single-gene disorders occur when mutation in a gene causing alteration of gene function while in multifactorial disorders, mutations occur in multiple genes, and these are usually coupled with environmental causes. in addition, in a multifactorial disorder such as diabetes, the complication is under the influence of different genes. for example, in diabetic retinopathy many genes are involved i...

Increasing evidence indicates that many signaling pathways involve not only ligands and receptors but also various types of coreceptors and matrix components as additional layers of regulation. Signaling by Eph receptors and their ephrin ligands plays a key role in a variety of biological processes, such as axon guidance and topographic map formation, synaptic plasticity, angiogenesis, and canc...

A rat hepatoma cell line was shown to synthesize heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans. Unlike cultured hepatocytes, the hepatoma cells did not deposit these proteoglycans into an extracellular matrix, and most of the newly synthesized heparan sulfate proteoglycans were secreted into the culture medium. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans were also found associated with the cell surfa...

We have studied the affinity between fibroblast proteoheparan sulfate (medium- and cell surface-derived species) and heparan sulfate-agaroses by affinity chromatography. The evidence for an interaction between the heparan sulfate side chains of the proteoglycans and the immobilized heparan sulfate are as follows: (a) the individual side chains released from the proteoglycan by papain bind to th...

Single-gene disorders occur when mutation in a gene causing alteration of gene function while in multifactorial disorders, mutations occur in multiple genes, and these are usually coupled with environmental causes. In addition, in a multifactorial disorder such as diabetes, the complication is under the influence of different genes. For example, in diabetic retinopathy many genes are involved i...

Heparan sulfate, the polysaccharide side chain of heparan sulfate proteoglycan, is important for the permselective properties of the glomerular basement membrane. In this report, we show a role for hydroxyl radicals in heparan sulfate degradation and an enhanced glomerular basement membrane permeability. First, in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, exposure of coated heparan sulfate (proteoglyc...

Heparan sulfate is a sulfated glycan that exhibits essential physiological functions. Interrogation of the specificity of heparan sulfate-mediated activities demands a library of structurally defined oligosaccharides. Chemical synthesis of large heparan sulfate oligosaccharides remains challenging. We report the synthesis of oligosaccharides with different sulfation patterns and sizes from a di...

Matrix metalloproteinases release intact syndecan-1 ectodomains from the cell surface giving rise to a soluble, shed form of the proteoglycan. Although it is known that shed syndecan-1 controls diverse pathophysiological responses in cancer, wound healing, inflammation, infection, and immunity, the mechanisms regulating shedding remain unclear. We have discovered that the heparan sulfate chains...

NKp30 is a natural cytotoxicity receptor expressed by human NK cells and involved in NK lytic activity. We previously published that membranal heparan sulfate serves as a coligand for human NKp30. In the present study, we complement our results by showing direct binding of recombinant NKp30 to immobilized heparin. The heparan sulfate epitope(s) on target tumor cells and the heparin epitope(s) r...

We have shown that cell surface heparan sulfate serves as the initial receptor for both serotypes of herpes simplex virus (HSV). We found that virions could bind to heparin, a related glycosaminoglycan, and that heparin blocked virus adsorption. Agents known to bind to cell surface heparan sulfate blocked viral adsorption and infection. Enzymatic digestion of cell surface heparan sulfate but no...