Issue 3, 2021

Investigation of the biological functions of heparan sulfate using a chemoenzymatic synthetic approach

Abstract

Heparan sulfate (HS) is a highly sulfated polysaccharide playing essential physiological and pathophysiological roles in the animal kingdom. Heparin, a highly sulfated form of HS, is a widely used anticoagulant drug. Isolated from biological sources, both heparin and HS are polysaccharide mixtures with different sugar chain lengths and sulfation patterns. Structural heterogeneity of HS complicates the investigation of HS-related biological activities. The availability of structurally defined HS oligosaccharides is critical in understanding the contribution of saccharide structures to the functions. The chemoenzymatic synthetic approach is emerging as a cost-effective method to synthesize HS oligosaccharides. Structurally defined oligosaccharides are now widely available for biologists. This review summarizes our efforts in using this new synthetic method to develop new anticoagulant therapeutics and discover the role of HS to protect liver damage under pathological conditions. The synthetic method also allows us to prepare reference saccharide standards to improve structural analysis of HS.

Graphical abstract: Investigation of the biological functions of heparan sulfate using a chemoenzymatic synthetic approach

Transparent peer review

To support increased transparency, we offer authors the option to publish the peer review history alongside their article.

View this article’s peer review history

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
10 11月 2020
Accepted
19 2月 2021
First published
22 2月 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Chem. Biol., 2021,2, 702-712

Investigation of the biological functions of heparan sulfate using a chemoenzymatic synthetic approach

Z. Wang, K. Arnold, V. M. Dhurandhare, Y. Xu and J. Liu, RSC Chem. Biol., 2021, 2, 702 DOI: 10.1039/D0CB00199F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements