February 2008

• T cell and fly development: Sugars boost signaling up a Notch

  Two articles have shown that Drosophila development requires Notch O-glucosylation by the transferase Rumi, and that Notch1 O-fucosylation in the ligand binding domain regulates T cell development in mice.

  Functional Glycomics Gateway (2008)
  doi:10.1038/fg.2008.8

• Cancer cell signaling: Glypican-1 gathers growth factors

  The heparan sulfate carrier glypican-1 promotes mitogenic and angiogenic signaling in pancreatic tumors.

  Functional Glycomics Gateway (2008)
  doi:10.1038/fg.2008.9

• Innate immunity: S. aureus surrenders to mannose-binding lectin

  Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) binds to Staphylococcus aureus prior to phagocytosis; once engulfed, MBL interacts with Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR6 in the phagosome to initiate proinflammatory signaling.

  Functional Glycomics Gateway (2008)
  doi:10.1038/fg.2008.10

• Glycopharmacology: Mannoside mania

  Synthetic tetra- and hexavalent mannosides block the effects of concanavalin A treatment on membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP)-mediated signaling in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs).

  Functional Glycomics Gateway (2008)
  doi:10.1038/fg.2008.11