14 DAY TRIAL // For many years, researchers found it difficult to investigate the function of N-glycans, protein-bound sugar molecules in the human body, on account of the fact that they could not be readily isolate and synthesized. A new approach allows researchers to track their function in real-time.
The accomplishment is tremendously important, given that these sugars are involved in a host of critically important process in the human body, such as for example stabilizing insulin levels and the portion of the immune response that is based on the action of antibodies.
As such, keeping track of what they do in the body is very important. But researchers were unable to do so until now, on account of logistical issues associated with this type of study.
But a Japanese team of investigators from the RIKEN Center for Molecular Imaging Science (CMIS), in Kobe, recently managed to break through in the field, by developing new radioactive and fluorescent probes that can bind with these sugars.
RIKEN experts Yasuyoshi Watanabe and Satoshi Nozaki were the leaders of the research effort. They say that their innovation is only the first in a new series of research probes into bodily chemicals.
What really stands out about the new probes is that they can be used inside living organisms. The tea, says that this means the technology could in the near future be used to keep track of tumor development in the human body.
Nozaki says that N-glycan molecules usually work in large clumps. They contain sialic acid residues, and this aid their cluster-forming tendency. This is done so that the sugars can maximize their efficiency and interaction levels with other molecules and sensitive proteins.
“It is rather rare that a single molecule of N-glycan shows significant biological activity,” the expert says, quoted by PhysOrg. He adds the new probes are made out of branched lysine oligopeptides, which are attached to some16 sugar molecules.
This produces a massive oligosaccharide cluster, which can then be augmented with regular radioactive and fluorescent tags. In their experiments, immunodeficient mice were injected with the new probes through their Tails.
The N-glycans could then be tracked inside the rodents' bodies via the use of regular positron emission tomography (PET) technologies, the Japanese team adds.
What is interesting in the study is that it leaves room for tailoring and customization. Probes that can bind to specific types of tumors could be developed in the near future. Others could only attach to specific organs.
“Nobody has done it, but the data shows that we can achieve it,” Nozaki concludes.