1. Although glycoproteins with less than 1% of sialic acid (fibrinogen, lipoproteins, gamma-globulins) interact electrostatically with chondromucoprotein to form insoluble complexes, interaction with glycoproteins containing larger amounts of sialic acid (orosomucoid, urine glycoprotein, seromucoid, fraction VI) was electrostatically impossible. Reasons for this are discussed. 2. The latter gly...

B-Lymphotropic Polyomavirus (LPyV) serves as a paradigm of virus receptor binding and tropism, and is the closest relative of the recently discovered Human Polyomavirus 9 (HPyV9). LPyV infection depends on sialic acid on host cells, but the molecular interactions underlying LPyV-receptor binding were unknown. We find by glycan array screening that LPyV specifically recognizes a linear carbohydr...

Inhibitory components in myelin are largely responsible for the lack of regeneration in the mammalian CNS. Myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), a sialic acid binding protein and a component of myelin, is a potent inhibitor of neurite outgrowth from a variety of neurons both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that MAG's sialic acid binding site is distinct from its neurite inhibitory activity....

Sialic acids are a subset of nonulosonic acids, which are nine-carbon alpha-keto aldonic acids. Natural existing sialic acid-containing structures are presented in different sialic acid forms, various sialyl linkages, and on diverse underlying glycans. They play important roles in biological, pathological, and immunological processes. Sialobiology has been a challenging and yet attractive resea...

background: the gold standard for detection of bladder cancer is cystoscopy, which is an invasive and complicated procedure. our study was conducted to find a tumor marker with high specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. methods: serum samples were collected from 58 bladder cancer patients and 60 healthy control subjects. levels of lipid-bound sialic acid (l...

Sialic acid changes in Dalton's lymphoma cells and other tissues of 10-12-week-old Swiss albino mice were investigated in relation to tumour growth in vivo and following cyclophosphamide (ip, 200 mg/kg body weight) or cisplatin (ip, 8 mg/kg body weight) treatment. Three to four animals of both sexes were used in each experimental group. The sialic acid level of tumour cells (0.88 micromol/g) in...

Reovirus induces apoptosis in cultured cells and in vivo. Genetic studies indicate that the efficiency with which reovirus strains induce apoptosis is determined by the viral S1 gene, which encodes attachment protein sigma1. However, the biochemical properties of sigma1 that influence apoptosis induction are unknown. To determine whether the capacity of sigma1 to bind cell surface sialic acid d...

Sialic acid (SA) is an important nutrient but few studies have examined the link between dietary intake and breast milk sialic acid. The purpose of this observational study was to assess the potential relationship between human breast milk sialic acid levels and dietary nutrition intake 40 d postpartum. The study population included 90 healthy women who were lactating. Human breast milk SA conc...