Most cited article - PubMed ID 20152153
A TNF-like trimeric lectin domain from Burkholderia cenocepacia with specificity for fucosylated human histo-blood group antigens
Carbohydrates are essential mediators of many processes in health and disease. They regulate self-/non-self- discrimination, are key elements of cellular communication, cancer, infection and inflammation, and determine protein folding, function and life-times. Moreover, they are integral to the cellular envelope for microorganisms and participate in biofilm formation. These diverse functions of carbohydrates are mediated by carbohydrate-binding proteins, lectins, and the more the knowledge about the biology of these proteins is advancing, the more interfering with carbohydrate recognition becomes a viable option for the development of novel therapeutics. In this respect, small molecules mimicking this recognition process become more and more available either as tools for fostering our basic understanding of glycobiology or as therapeutics. In this review, we outline the general design principles of glycomimetic inhibitors (Section 2). This section is then followed by highlighting three approaches to interfere with lectin function, i.e. with carbohydrate-derived glycomimetics (Section 3.1), novel glycomimetic scaffolds (Section 3.2) and allosteric modulators (Section 3.3). We summarize recent advances in design and application of glycomimetics for various classes of lectins of mammalian, viral and bacterial origin. Besides highlighting design principles in general, we showcase defined cases in which glycomimetics have been advanced to clinical trials or marketed. Additionally, emerging applications of glycomimetics for targeted protein degradation and targeted delivery purposes are reviewed in Section 4.
The determination of a suitable buffer environment for a protein of interest is not an easy task. The requirements of advanced techniques, the demands on the biological material and the researcher time needed for buffer optimization, as well as personal inflexibility, lead frequently to the use of sub-optimal buffers. Here, we demonstrate the design of a 48-condition buffer screen that can be used to determine an appropriate environment for downstream studies. By the combination of several techniques (differential scanning fluorimetry, dynamic light scattering, and bio-layer interferometry), we are able to assess the protein stability, homogeneity and binding activity across the screen with less than half a milligram of protein in 1 day. The application of this screen helps to avoid unsuitable conditions, to explain problems observed upon protein analysis and to choose the most suitable buffers for further research. The screen can be routinely used as a primary screen for buffer optimization in labs and facilities.
- Keywords
- Bio-layer interferometry, Buffer, Differential scanning fluorimetry, Dynamic light scattering, Protein stability, Screening,
- MeSH
- Dynamic Light Scattering MeSH
- Fluorometry MeSH
- Proteins MeSH
- Buffers MeSH
- Protein Stability * MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Proteins MeSH
- Buffers MeSH
The immune mechanisms that recognize inhaled Aspergillus fumigatus conidia to promote their elimination from the lungs are incompletely understood. FleA is a lectin expressed by Aspergillus fumigatus that has twelve binding sites for fucosylated structures that are abundant in the glycan coats of multiple plant and animal proteins. The role of FleA is unknown: it could bind fucose in decomposed plant matter to allow Aspergillus fumigatus to thrive in soil, or it may be a virulence factor that binds fucose in lung glycoproteins to cause Aspergillus fumigatus pneumonia. Our studies show that FleA protein and Aspergillus fumigatus conidia bind avidly to purified lung mucin glycoproteins in a fucose-dependent manner. In addition, FleA binds strongly to macrophage cell surface proteins, and macrophages bind and phagocytose fleA-deficient (∆fleA) conidia much less efficiently than wild type (WT) conidia. Furthermore, a potent fucopyranoside glycomimetic inhibitor of FleA inhibits binding and phagocytosis of WT conidia by macrophages, confirming the specific role of fucose binding in macrophage recognition of WT conidia. Finally, mice infected with ΔfleA conidia had more severe pneumonia and invasive aspergillosis than mice infected with WT conidia. These findings demonstrate that FleA is not a virulence factor for Aspergillus fumigatus. Instead, host recognition of FleA is a critical step in mechanisms of mucin binding, mucociliary clearance, and macrophage killing that prevent Aspergillus fumigatus pneumonia.
- MeSH
- Aspergillus fumigatus immunology pathogenicity MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Fluorescent Antibody Technique MeSH
- Fucose metabolism MeSH
- Fungal Proteins immunology metabolism MeSH
- Lectins immunology metabolism MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Macrophages immunology metabolism MeSH
- Disease Models, Animal MeSH
- Mucins immunology metabolism MeSH
- Mice, Inbred C57BL MeSH
- Mice MeSH
- Pulmonary Aspergillosis immunology metabolism MeSH
- Flow Cytometry MeSH
- Immunity, Mucosal immunology MeSH
- Spores, Fungal immunology MeSH
- Blotting, Western MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Adult MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Mice MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
- Names of Substances
- fucose-binding lectin MeSH Browser
- Fucose MeSH
- Fungal Proteins MeSH
- Lectins MeSH
- Mucins MeSH
