Heparin and Heparan Sulfate Biosynthesis

Heparan Sulfate Biosynthesis

Heparan sulfate is perhaps the most complex polysaccharide known from animals. The basic repeating disaccharide is extensively modified by sulfation and uronic acid epimerization. Despite this, the fine structure of heparan sulfate is remarkably consistent with a particular cell type. This suggests that the synthesis of heparan sulfate is tightly controlled. Although genomics has identified the...

Heparan Sulfate and Heparin Enhance ERK

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of heparan sulfate and heparin.

Heparan sulfate is a polysaccharide that plays essential physiological functions in the animal kingdom. Heparin, a highly sulfated form of heparan sulfate, is a widely prescribed anticoagulant drug worldwide. The heparan sulfate and heparin isolated from natural sources are highly heterogeneous mixtures differing in their polysaccharide chain lengths and sulfation patterns. The access to struct...

Heparan sulfate and heparin interactions with proteins.

Heparan sulfate (HS) polysaccharides are ubiquitous components of the cell surface and extracellular matrix of all multicellular animals, whereas heparin is present within mast cells and can be viewed as a more sulfated, tissue-specific, HS variant. HS and heparin regulate biological processes through interactions with a large repertoire of proteins. Owing to these interactions and diverse effe...

Antiangiogenic heparin-derived heparan sulfate mimics*

Heparan sulfate (HS) is a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) widely distributed as a proteoglycan on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix of animal tissues. Among other important physiological functions, its polysaccharide chains mediate cell proliferation by binding growth factors [fibroblast growth factor (FGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)], which are released in active form th...