Analysis of Glycosphingolipid Glycans by Lectin Microarrays.

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are ubiquitous glycoconjugates of cell membranes. Identification of unknown GSL-glycan structures is still a major challenge. To address this challenge, we developed a novel strategy for analysis of GSL-glycans from cultured cells based on a lectin microarray that can directly detect and reveal glycopatterns of GSL extracts without the need for glycan release. There were six steps to perform the analysis of GSL-glycans: (i) extraction of GSLs from cell pellets, (ii) quantification of GSL-glycans using orcinol-sulfuric acid reaction, (iii) preparation of lyso-GSLs by using sphingolipid ceramide N-deacylase, (iv) fluorescence labeling of lyso-GSLs, (v) detection by a lectin microarray, (vi) data acquisition and analysis. Simultaneously, a supplementary verification analysis for GSL-glycans was performed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Optimized experimental conditions, which consisted of the blocking buffer, incubation buffer, and appropriate GSL concentration, were investigated by analyzing the glycopatterns of a standard ganglioside (GM1a) via lectin microarray. The analysis of GSL-glycans from human hepatocarcinoma cell lines (MHCC97L, MHCC97H, and HCCLM3) showed that there were 27 lectins (e.g., WFA, MAL-II, and LTL) to give significantly different signals compared with a normal human liver cell line (HL-7702), indicating up- and/or down-regulations of corresponding glycopatterns such as alpha 1-2 fucosylation and alpha 2-3 sialylation, and changes of certain glycostructures such as Gal beta 1-3GalNAc beta 1-4(NeuAc alpha 2-3)Gal beta 1-4Glc:Cer and GalNAc alpha 1-3(Fuc alpha 1-2)Gal beta 1-3GlcNAc beta 1-3Gal beta 1-4Glc:Cer. The lectin microarray analysis of lyso-GSLs labeled by fluorescence has proven to be credible, which can provide the glycopatterns and detailed linkage information on GSL-glycans.