title: Regulatory roles of carbohydrate ligands for selectins in the homing of lymphocytes.
abstract: Cell surface carbohydrate determinants figure heavily in the regulation of lymphocyte homing and the inflammatory recruitment of leukocytes. The recently described sulfated carbohydrate ligand for selectins, sialyl 6-sulfo Lewis x, is mainly involved in the routine homing of various subsets of lymphocytes, such as nai;ve helper T cells, and skin- and gut-homing helper memory T cells. The homing of lymphocytes is regulated by a unique post-translational modification of sialic acid moieties that occurs specifically in sulfated selectin ligands, whereby the sialic acid loses its N-acetyl group and is converted into a 1-5 cyclic derivative. By contrast, nonsulfated carbohydrate ligands of the selectins, such as sialyl Lewis x, are mainly involved in the recruitment of leukocytes during inflammation. The increment of sialyl Lewis x expression upon inflammatory stimuli is mediated by transcriptional induction of fucosyltransferase genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Pathology, Research Institute, Aichi Cancer Center, 1-1 Kanokoden, Chikusaku, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan. rkannagi@aichi-cc.jp
authors.forename: Reiji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kannagi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D019041:L-Selectin / Q000502:physiology*; D008024:Ligands; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D016201:Receptors, Lymphocyte Homing / Q000502:physiology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D009844:Oligosaccharides; D016201:Receptors, Lymphocyte Homing; D019041:L-Selectin