Junko Amano

Altered glycosylation of proteins produced by malignant cells, and application for the diagnosis and immunotherapy of tumours.

Most secretory and membrane‐bound proteins produced by mammalian cells contain covalently linked sugar chains. Alterations of the sugar chain structures of glycoproteins have been found to occur in various tumours. Because the sugar chains of glycoproteins are essential for the maintenance of the ordered social behaviour of differentiated cells in multicellular organisms, alterations to the sugar chains are the molecular basis of abnormal social behaviours in tumour cells, such as invasion into the surrounding tissues and metastasis. In this review, the structure and enzymatic basis of typical alterations of the N‐linked sugar chains, which are found in various tumours, are introduced. These data are useful for devising diagnostic methods and immunotherapies for the clinical treatment of tumours. Three β‐N‐acetylglucosaminyltransferases, GnT‐III, ‐IV and ‐V, play roles in the structural alteration of the complex‐type sugar chains in various tumours. In addition, transcriptional changes in various glycosyltransferases, together with the transporters of sugar nucleotides and sulfate, which are responsible for the formation of the outer chain moieties of complex‐type sugar chains, are the keys to inducing the alterations.

Expression of the H Type 1 Blood Group Antigen during Enterocytic Differentiation of Caco-2 Cells

We made a comparative study of the structures of the oligosaccharides on the glycoproteins from Caco-2 human colonic adenocarcinoma cells, before and after differentiation. Enterocytic differentiated Caco-2 cells highly express H type 1 blood group antigen on the cell surface as well as activities of brush border membrane hydrolases, such as dipeptidyl peptidase IV and alkaline phosphatase. A strong correlation was observed between the amounts of H type 1 blood group antigen and the degrees of differentiation. Structural analysis with use of lectin affinity high performance liquid chromatography revealed that typical mucin-type sugar chains of the glycoproteins from undifferentiated cells have H type 2 group, linear polylactosamines, and core 1 structure. On the other hand, differentiated cells newly contain H type 1 and Leb groups and core 2 structure. Mucins with H type 1 group make contact with brush border membrane enzymes on differentiated cells. Furthermore benzyl 2-acetamide-2-deoxy-α-d-galactopyranoside inhibited both expression of H type 1 group on the cell surface and enhancement of brush border membrane enzyme activities even in the presence of a differentiating inducer. These results suggest that the mucin-type sugar chains with H type 1 group have important functions regarding differentiation of Caco-2 cells.

Structures of the oligosaccharides isolated from milk of the platypus

Eight major oligosaccharides were isolated from platypus milk. By sequential exoglycosidase digestion and methylation study, their structures were elucidated as shown in Fig. 9 of this paper. The characteristics feature of the platypus milk oligosaccharides is that lacto-N-neotetraose and lacto-N-neohexaose are the major cores in contrast to human milk oligosaccharides in which lacto-N-tetraose and lacto-N-hexaose are found as the major core.

Structural determination by negative-ion MALDI-QIT-TOFMSn after pyrene derivatization of variously fucosylated oligosaccharides with branched decaose cores from human milk

We prepared neutral oligosaccharide fraction from milk of a woman (blood type A, Le(b+)) by anion-exchange column chromatography after the removal of lipids and proteins. Further fractionation was performed by means of Aleuria aurantia lectin-Sepharose column chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC after labeling with a pyrene derivative. This pyrene labeling allowed identification by negative-MALDI-TOFMS(n) analysis of 22 oligosaccharides with decaose cores, among which 21 had novel structures. Negative ions could not be produced from neutral oligosaccharides without labeling on MALDI. Mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrafucosylated decaose fractions contained three, nine, six, and four isomers, respectively. Our method enables easy determination of fucosylated structures on the N-acetyllactosamine branches of these isomers. On negative-MS(n) the fragment ions included several A and D ions, from which fucosylation on the branches could be elucidated. Other characteristic ions were also detected. Y-type cleavage at the reducing side of -3GlcNAc indicated the occurrence of type 1 chain. Specific fragment ions were produced from H, Le(a), and Le(x) antigens. Linkage-specific exoglycosidase digestion confirmed the structures. The results indicate that the diversity of the oligosaccharides is due to combinations of type 1 H, Le(a), Le(x), and Le(b)/Le(y) on branched decaose cores. In typical oligosaccharides, 6-branches always consist of type 2 chain, while 3-branches, such as beta and gamma chains, are fucosylated type 1 chains. From the viewpoint of biosynthesis, the presence of fucosylation and type 1 chain may halt elongation of the N-acetyllactosamine and promote formation of branched structures.

Glycoengineered Monoclonal Antibodies with Homogeneous Glycan (M3, G0, G2, and A2) Using a Chemoenzymatic Approach Have Different Affinities for FcγRIIIa and Variable Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Activities

Many therapeutic antibodies have been developed, and IgG antibodies have been extensively generated in various cell expression systems. IgG antibodies contain N-glycans at the constant region of the heavy chain (Fc domain), and their N-glycosylation patterns differ during various processes or among cell expression systems. The Fc N-glycan can modulate the effector functions of IgG antibodies, such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). To control Fc N-glycans, we performed a rearrangement of Fc N-glycans from a heterogeneous N-glycosylation pattern to homogeneous N-glycans using chemoenzymatic approaches with two types of endo-β-N-acetyl glucosaminidases (ENG’ases), one that works as a hydrolase to cleave all heterogeneous N-glycans, another that is used as a glycosynthase to generate homogeneous N-glycans. As starting materials, we used an anti-Her2 antibody produced in transgenic silkworm cocoon, which consists of non-fucosylated pauci-mannose type (Man2-3GlcNAc2), high-mannose type (Man4-9GlcNAc2), and complex type (Man3GlcNAc3-4) N-glycans. As a result of the cleavage of several ENG’ases (endoS, endoM, endoD, endoH, and endoLL), the heterogeneous glycans on antibodies were fully transformed into homogeneous-GlcNAc by a combination of endoS, endoD, and endoLL. Next, the desired N-glycans (M3; Man3GlcNAc1, G0; GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1, G2; Gal2GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1, A2; NeuAc2Gal2GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1) were transferred from the corresponding oxazolines to the GlcNAc residue on the intact anti-Her2 antibody with an ENG’ase mutant (endoS-D233Q), and the glycoengineered anti-Her2 antibody was obtained. The binding assay of anti-Her2 antibody with homogenous N-glycans with FcγRIIIa-V158 showed that the glycoform influenced the affinity for FcγRIIIa-V158. In addition, the ADCC assay for the glycoengineered anti-Her2 antibody (mAb-M3, mAb-G0, mAb-G2, and mAb-A2) was performed using SKBR-3 and BT-474 as target cells, and revealed that the glycoform influenced ADCC activity.

Derivatization with 1-pyrenyldiazomethane enhances ionization of glycopeptides but not peptides in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.

Glycoproteomics holds the promise of new advances in medical technology. However, mass spectrometry has limitations for the structural determination of glycosylated peptides because the hydrophilic nature of the oligosaccharide moiety in glycopeptides is disadvantageous for ionization, and glycopeptides ionize much less readily than nonglycosylated peptides. Therefore, conventional proteomics tools cannot detect altered glycosylation on proteins. Here, we describe an on-plate pyrene derivatization method using 1-pyrenyldiazomethane for highly sensitive matrix-assisted laser/desorption ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS(n)) of glycopeptides in amounts of less than 100 fmol. This derivatization is unique, as the pyrene groups are easily released from glycopeptides during ionization when 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid is used as a matrix. As a result, most ions are observed as the underivatized form on the spectra. At the same time, pyrene derivatization dramatically reduces the ionization of peptides. Thus, for glycopeptides in a mixture of abundant peptides, we could obtain MS spectra in which the signals of glycopeptides were intense enough for subjection to MS(n) in order to determine the structures of both glycan and peptide. Finally, we show that the glycopeptides derived from as little as 1 ng of prostate specific antigen can be detected by this method.

Negative-ion MALDI-QIT-TOFMSn for structural determination of fucosylated and sialylated oligosaccharides labeled with a pyrene derivative

Oligosaccharides have many isomers and MALDI-QIT-TOFMS(n) analysis is effective for determining their structures. However, it is difficult to elucidate in detail the structures of fucosylated and/or sialylated oligosaccharides that are known to be disease markers because fucose and sialic acid residues are easily released. We have introduced a technique of labeling oligosaccharides with a pyrene derivative prior to negative-ion MALDI-QIT-TOFMS(n), and we have established a reliable method using this technique for the analysis of neutral oligosaccharides, such as fucosylated oligosaccharides containing blood group antigens H, Le(a), and Le(x). Intense and stable ionization in both positive and negative modes was achieved by derivatization with pyrene. As little as 10 fmol of pyrene-labeled oligosaccharides gave sufficient signals for analysis. Specific A-, D- or Y-type ions that depend on the structures of branching antennae could be detected by MS(n) and were useful for rapid and easy structural determination. These specific fragmentations resulting from collision-induced dissociation can be used to elucidate the structures of unknown oligosaccharides even if authentic oligosaccharides are not available as standards. By using this method, we identified and quantitated isomeric oligosaccharides with different fucosyl linkages from their mixtures. Moreover, sialylated oligosaccharide was converted to the corresponding neutral oligosaccharide by amidation, and the negative-ion spectrum was shown to be more informative than that of the original acidic oligosaccharide. Structural determination of both fucosylated and sialylated isomers, such as sialylfucosyllacto-N-hexaose I and monosialyl monofucosyllacto-N-neohexaose, was successful because fragment ions bearing fucose or amidated sialic acid were obtained on negative-MS(n).

Structure identification of the complex-type, asparagine-linked sugar chains of β-d-galactosyl-transferase purified from human milk

The asparagine-linked sugar chains of human milk galactosyltransferase were quantitatively released as oligosaccharides from the polypeptide backbone by hydrazinolysis. They were converted into radioactive oligosaccharides by sodium borotritiate reduction after N-acetylation, and fractionated by paper electrophoresis and by Bio-Gel P-4 column chromatography after sialidase treatment. Structural studies of each oligosaccharides by sequential exoglycosidase digestion and methylation analysis indicated that the galactosyltransferase contains bi, tri-, and probably tetra-antennary, complex-type oligosaccharides having alpha-D-Manp-(1----3)-[alpha-D-Manp-(1----6)]-beta-D-Manp -(1----4)-beta-D- GlcpNac-(1----4)-alpha-L-[Fucp-(1----6)]-D-GlcNAc as their common core. Variation is produced by the different locations and numbers of the five different outer chains: beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-D-GlcNAc, alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)-[beta-D-Galp-(1----4)]-D-GlcNAc, alpha-NeuAc-(2----6)-beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-D-GlcNAc, alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)-[beta-D-Galp-(1----4)]-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1---- 3)-beta- D-Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)]-D-GlcNAc, and alpha-NeuAc-(2----6)-beta-D-Galp-(1----4)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1----3)-beta-D - Galp-(1----4)-[alpha-L-Fucp-(1----3)]-beta-D-GlcNAc.

Quantitative conversion of mucin-type sugar chains to radioactive oligosaccharides.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the quantitative conversion of mucin-type sugar chains to radioactive oligosaccharides. The method described in this chapter can label oligosaccharide alcohols quantitatively with little excess radioactive materials. This chapter applied this method for the comparative study of the mucin-type sugar chains of human chorionic gonadotropins purified from the urine of pregnant women and of patients with various trophoblastic diseases. ∼9 Since then, the method has been applied for the quantitative analysis of mucin-type sugar chains of all glycoproteins. The percent molar ratio of each oligosaccharide is calculated from the radioactivity of the fraction. Each value is divided by the number of amino sugar residues included to obtain the molar ratio in radioactivity. The radioactivity of each peak is then converted to percent total radioactivity.

Negative-ion MALDI-MS2 for discrimination of α2,3- and α2,6-sialylation on glycopeptides labeled with a pyrene derivative ☆

Here, we propose a novel method for the discrimination of α2,3- and α2,6-sialylation on glycopeptides. To stabilize the sialic acids, the carboxyl moiety on the sialic acid as well as the C-terminus and side chain of the peptide backbone were derivatized using 1-pyrenyldiazomethane (PDAM). The derivatization can be performed on the target plate for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), thereby avoiding complicated and time-consuming purification steps. After the on-plate PDAM derivatization, samples were subjected to negative-ion MALDI-MS using 3AQ-CHCA as a matrix. Deprotonated ions of the PDAM-derivatized form were detected as the predominant species without loss of sialic acid. The negative-ion collision-induced dissociation (CID) of PDAM-derivatized isomeric sialylglycopeptides, derived from hen egg yolk, showed characteristic spectral patterns. These data made it possible to discriminate α2,3- and α2,6-sialylation. In addition, sialyl isomers of a glycan with an asparagine could be discriminated based on their CID spectra. In brief, the negative-ion CID of PDAM-derivatized glycopeptides with α2,6-sialylation gave an abundant (0,2)A-type product ion, while that with α2,3-sialylation furnished a series of (2,4)A/Y-type product ions with loss of sialic acids. The unique fragmentation behavior appears to be derived from the difference of pyrene binding positions after ionization, depending on the type of sialylation. Thus, we show that on-plate PDAM derivatization followed by negative-ion MALDI-MS(2) is a simple and robust method for the discrimination of α2,3- and α2,6-sialylation on glycopeptides.