Meet the multifunctional and sexy glycoforms of glycodelin.
Glycodelin, a human-secreted glycoprotein that appears in a small number of glycoforms, exhibits diverse biological activities, such as in contraception and immunosuppression. Moreover, different tissue-specific glycoforms appear to mediate diverse functions. Quite unusually, the glycodelin N-linked glycans differ between the male and female glycoforms. The fact that these glycans are fundamental for exerting the physiological activities of the different glycoforms, makes them an interesting target for glycobiology research. This review will focus on the involvement of the glycans in glycodelin activity and compare between the several glycoforms.
Lapid
Kfir
K
Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Sharon
Nathan
N
D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
D006023:Glycoproteins; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins