Background

Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) is used for detection of alcohol abuse and follow-up. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of transferrin glycoforms is highly specific for identification of alcohol abuse, but unresolved disialo- and trisialotransferrin glycoforms sometimes makes interpretation difficult. The cause of this phenomenon is unknown, cannot be explained by genetic variants of transferrin, but seems to be associated with liver disease.

Methods

Nineteen serum samples showing di–tri bridging when analyzed by HPLC were collected. Transferrin was purified by affinity chromatography, and N-linked oligosaccharides were released enzymatically. The N-glycans were further analyzed by high performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

Results

The HPLC-analysis showed three different types of glycoform patterns. The N-glycans from fifteen samples showed patterns with increased number of triantennary structures containing one or two fucose residues. One sample contained an increased amount of triantennary glycans without fucose. Three samples showed a glycosylation pattern similar to normal transferrin.

Conclusions

The di–tri bridging phenomenon was associated with alterations in transferrin glycosylation in the majority of cases. Transferrin contained a higher extent of triantennary and often fucosylated N-linked oligosaccharides. These results may be important in future diagnostic approaches to liver diseases.

Lab-on-a-chip detection of fluorescence transduced chemical stimuli is demonstrated using fluidics and optical coupling disposable elements in a configuration compatible with distributed diagnosis.

Disposable optical elements are designed to separate excitation by total internal reflection using regular glass slides as optical light guide and fluidics support, while high dynamic range image acquisition with consumer cameras complement the platform to support a broad range of responses with a same configuration. Complementary tone mapping procedures are introduced to systematically double the sensitivity for selected range intervals.

Chemical sensitization to free fucose, a diagnostic marker for liver cirrhosis and several cancer forms, illustrates the platform capabilities for diagnosis targets.

Aberrant glycosylation is connected to several pathological conditions and lectins are useful tools to characterize glycosylated biomarkers. The Aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL) is of special interest since it interacts with all types of fucosylated saccharides. AAL has been expressed in Escherichia coil as a fully functional recombinant protein. Engineered variants of AAL have been developed with the aim of creating monovalent lectins with more homogenous binding characteristics. Four different forms of AAL were studied in the present work: native AAL purified from A. aurantia mushrooms, recombinant AAL dimer, recombinant AAL monomer and recombinant AAL site 2 (S2-AAL). The affinities of these AAL forms toward a number of saccharides were determined with weak affinity chromatography (WAC). Disaccharides with fucose linked alpha 1-3 to GIcNAc interacted with higher affinity compared to fucose linked alpha 1-6 or alpha 1-4 and the obtained dissociation constants (K-d) were in the range of 10 mu M for all AAL forms. Tetra- and pentasaccharides with fucose in alpha 1-2, alpha 1-3 or alpha 1-4 had K-d values ranging from 0.1 to 7 mM while a large alpha 1-6 fucosylated oligosaccharide had a K-d of about 20 mu M. The recombinant multivalent AAL forms and native AAL exhibited similar affinities toward all saccharides, but S2-AAL had a lower affinity especially regarding a sialic acid containing fucosylated saccharide. It was demonstrated that WAC is a valuable technique in determining the detailed binding profile of the lectins. Specific advantages with WAC include a low consumption of non-labeled saccharides, possibility to analyze mixtures and a simple procedure using standard HPLC equipment.