Glycobiology Insights

Heterogeneous heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) polysaccharides are important compo- nents of blood circulation. Changes in GAG quantity and structure in blood have been indicated in cancers and other human diseases. However, GAG quantities and structures have not been fully characterized due to lack of robust and sensitive analytical tools. To develop such tools, we isolated GAGs from serum and plasma. We employed liquid chromatography (LC) for GAG quantification and LC/mass spectrometry (MS) for GAG structural analysis. Twenty-four heparan and chondroitin sulfate motifs were identified, including linkage hexasaccharides, repeating disaccharide compositions, reducing, and non-reducing end mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharide structures. Disaccharides were detectable at picomolar level without radiolabeling or derivitization, so only a few ml of human and fetal bovine serum was required for this study. The detection of different reducing end structures distinct from GAG linkage hexasaccharides revealed that free GAG chains generated by GAG degradation enzymes co-existed with proteoglycans in serum. In addition, a novel sialic acid-modified linkage hexasaccharide was found conjugated to bikunin, the most abundant serum proteoglycan.