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1: Curr Med Chem. 1999 Feb;6(2):155-64.Links

Alpha-Gal oligosaccharides: chemistry and potential biomedical application.

Janczuk A, Li J, Zhang W, Chen X, Chen Y, Fang J, Wang J, Wang PG.

Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.

This article focuses on the most recent research efforts by the Wang group in the field of alpha-Gal oligosaccharides. alpha-Gal oligosaccharides are carbohydrate structures bearing a Gal( alpha)1-3Gal(beta) terminus. This class of compounds are believed to act as xenoactive antigens that instigate the hyperacute rejection in xenotransplantation. Enzymatic methods using recombinant (alpha)1-3 galactosyltransferase were employed to synthesize several alpha-Gal oligosaccharides. In addition, a chemical synthetic scheme was devised in order to produce readily accessible amounts of alpha-Gal. Conformational analysis was done using both NMR techniques and molecular modeling protocols. These studies provide important information in the structure-function relationship of alpha-Gal and anti- alpha-Gal antibodies.

PMID: 10189229 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]