Session: Session 3

Glycomic analysis of enzymatically released glycans from glycosphingolipids in plasma samples

Lipids play a vital role in living organisms because they constitute cell or organelle membranes. Among them, there is a class called glycosphingolipids, in which a glycan moiety is linked to the hydrophobic chain. This class is implicated in various functions, such as cell-cell recognition [1] and cell adhesion. The dysregulation of this class may also be involved in cancer [1, 2].

 

As in glycoproteomic analyses, there are different levels of analyses of glycolipids (analysis of intact compounds [3] or released saccharides [4]). The characterization of native glycosphingolipid structures remains a tricky task. Here, we present a method applied for the characterization of the saccharide part of the glycosphingolipids from plasma samples.

 

The use of HILIC chromatography allows the separation of regioisomers. The coupling of HILIC with high-resolution mass spectrometry allows the successful detection and identification of more than 30 glycans, both neutral and acidic,simultaneously extracted from plasma samples. Glycans are present with different sizes up to 9 monosaccharide units.

 

 

References :

 

[1] Glycosphingolipids in Health and Disease X. Zhang and F. L. Kiechle Ann. Clin. Lab. Sci. 2004, 34, 1, 3-13

[2] Dysregulation of sphingolipid metabolism in cancer. Ryland, L. K., Fox, T. E., Liu, X., Loughran, T. P., & Kester, M. Cancer Biology & Therapy, 2011, 11, 2, 138–149

[3] Comprehensive Identification of Glycosphingolipids in Human Plasma Using Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography—Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry K. Hořejší, R. Jirásko, M. Chocholoušková, D. Wolrab, D. Kahoun and M. Holčapek, Metabolites 2021, 11, 3, 140

[4] Comprehensive characterization of complex glycosphingolipids in human pancreatic cancer tissues, K. Hořejší, C. Jin, Z. Vaňková, R. Jirásko, O. Strouhal, B. Melichar, S. Teneberg, M. Holčapek JBC, 2023, 299, 3, 102923