INTRODUCTION: Sialic acid (called neuraminic acid) is the designation given to a family of over 40 naturally occurring ninecarbon keto sugars acids derived from the parent compound 2-keto3-deoxy-5-acetamido-D-glyceroD-galacto-nonulosonic acid ( Nacetylneuraminic acid [Neu5Ac]). The sialic acids and related nonulosonates are unique in nature by representing the only nine-carbon sugars found in p...

Members of the sialic acid family of compounds occur in a variety of tissues and body fluids (la, 2) and in bacteria (3), incorporated in conjugated protein. The naturally occurring sinlic acids are substituted neuraminic acid derivatives (Nacetyl, N-glycolyl, N, 0-diacetylneuraminic acid). These are collectively termed “sialic acids.” The unsubstituted 9 carbon chain is called neuraminic acid ...

This study was designed to investigate the role of serum nitric oxide and sialic acid in the development of diabetic nephropathy as disease marker. Total 210 diabetic patients (age and sex matched) were selected followed by informed consent and divided into four groups (70 each) as I: control; II: diabetic; III: diabetic hypertensive; IV: diabetic nephropathy. The blood samples of all subjects ...

The surface glycoprotein S of transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) has two binding activities. (i) Binding to porcine aminopeptidase N (pAPN) is essential for the initiation of infection. (ii) Binding to sialic acid residues on glycoproteins is dispensable for the infection of cultured cells but is required for enteropathogenicity. By comparing parental TGEV with mutant viruses deficient ...

Head and neck cancers (HNC) have emerged as a leading cause of cancer related mortality and morbidity worldwide. Especially in developing countries, due to a lack of awareness and healthcare facilities, most HNC cases are diagnosed at advanced stages. Currently, there are no reliable non-invasive diagnostic modalities to detect HNC and follow up treated cases. Serum sialic acid is a promising c...

Pasteurella multocida subsp. multocida is a commensal and opportunistic pathogen of food animals, wildlife, and pets and a zoonotic cause of human infection arising from contacts with these animals. Here, an investigation of multiple serotype A strains demonstrated the occurrence of membrane sialyltransferase. Although P. multocida lacks the genes for the two earliest steps in de novo sialic ac...

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infects macrophages effectively, despite relatively low levels of cell surface-expressed CD4. Although HIV-1 infections are defined by viral tropisms according to chemokine receptor usage (R5 and X4), variations in infection are common within both R5- and X4-tropic viruses, indicating additional factors may contribute to viral tropism. ME...

Sialic acids participate in many important biological recognition events, yet eukaryotic sialic acid biosynthetic genes are not well characterized. In this study, we have identified a novel human gene based on homology to the Escherichia coli sialic acid synthase gene (neuB). The human gene is ubiquitously expressed and encodes a 40-kDa enzyme. The gene partially restores sialic acid synthase a...

Many mechanisms have been proposed for how heightened aerobic glycolytic metabolism fuels cancer pathogenicity, but there are still many unexplored pathways. Here, we have performed metabolomic profiling to map glucose incorporation into metabolic pathways upon transformation of mammary epithelial cells by 11 commonly mutated human oncogenes. We show that transformation of mammary epithelial ce...