Custom Carbohydrate Antigen Synthesis

As a classical immunological topic, carbohydrate antigen has gained renewed interest in the new millennium. Equipped with professional technical scientists and a comprehensive powerful platform, Creative Biolabs has accumulated abundant experience in the custom synthesis of carbohydrate antigens. We are pleased to share our cutting-edge technology in custom carbohydrate antigen synthesis to facilitate our clients’ research and project development.

The Background of Carbohydrate Antigens

Carbohydrate antigens are polysaccharides or glycoconjugates of multiple structural configurations, which are able to induce carbohydrate-specific antibodies and react with these antibodies. Carbohydrates as antigens were firstly recognized in the study of microbial polysaccharides. The scope of investigation of carbohydrate antigens has been gradually extended. Carbohydrates are unsurpassed in generating structural diversity and are prominent in the surface display. They contain valuable biological information and are characteristically recognizable by either soluble or membrane-bound cellular proteins. In microbes, many sugar chains, including those displayed on the cell surface and those secreted outside it, have been recognized as “signatures” of specific pathogens. In eukaryotic species, cellular glycoconjugates are frequently cell-specific or tissue-specific. The biological information of carbohydrate antigens is currently paid more and more in the postgenomic research.

Fig.1 Structures of common tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens. (McDonald, 2015)

Tumor-associated Carbohydrate Antigens (TACAs)

Aberrant glycosylation is a common phenotypic change of cancer cells, arising from the clustered presentation on the cell surface glycoproteins and/or glycosphingolipids. TACAs are molecular markers overexpressing on human tumor cells, which can be used to distinguish tumor cells from normal cells. They play roles in initiation and metastasis of cancer and are common targets shared by many tumor types. TACAs can be divided into two major groups: 1) glycoprotein antigens, which include Tn, Thomsen-Friendreich (TF), and sailyl-Tn (sTn) linked to the hydroxyl group of serine or threonine residues of protein; and 2) glycolipid antigens, which can be further classified into several families: the gangliosides such as GD2, GD3, GM2, GM3, and fucosyl-GM1; globo class such as Globo-H, Gb3, Gb4, and Gb5; blood group determinants such as Lewisx, Lewisy, and their sialylated derivates. TACAs are shared by many cancer types, and it is even more important that the overexpression of TACAs on the cancer cell surface is a sign of tumor progression and metastasis, and that is frequently correlated with poor prognosis. Therefore, TACA-based therapy becomes promising candidates for cancer immunotherapy.

Custom Carbohydrate Antigen Synthesis at Creative Biolabs

We have successfully developed several efficient strategies for the synthesis of different types of carbohydrate antigens, such as GM2, GM3, GD3, Globo-H, sialyl lewis x-lactose ethylamine, lacdiNAc dimer ethylazide, disialylnonasaccharide-β-ethylazide, and HNK-1 ethylazide. The structure of the synthetic carbohydrate antigen is verified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. For further research, antibody binding assay can be performed using a glycan microarray as required.

Highlights

• Diverse carbohydrate antigens are available
• Several custom carbohydrate antigens are proposed to be tumor antigens
• Carbohydrate antigens with modification
• Top-rated customer experience
• High flexibility and cost-effectiveness

Creative Biolabs is fully competent and dedicated to serving as your one-stop-shop for custom carbohydrate antigen synthesis. For more detailed information, please feel free to contact us or directly send us an inquiry.

Reference

1. McDonald, D.M.; et al. Synthetic self-adjuvanting glycopeptide cancer vaccines. Frontiers in chemistry. 2015, 3:60.

Related Services:

1. Custom Monosaccharide Synthesis
2. Custom Oligosaccharide Synthesis
3. Custom Nucleotide Sugar Synthesis
4. Custom Glycolipid Synthesis
5. Custom Polysaccharide Synthesis