Recent progress and applications in glycosaminoglycan and heparin research.
Heparin, the focus of this review, is a crucially important anticoagulant drug produced from animal sources, which was contaminated last year leading to a number of adverse side effects, some resulting in death. Heparin is a highly acidic polysaccharide and a member of a family of biopolymers called glycosaminoglycans. The structure and activities of heparin are detailed along with recent advances in heparin structural analysis and biological evaluation. Current state-of-the-art chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of heparin and new approaches for its metabolic engineering are described. New technologies, including microarrays and digital microfluidics, are proposed for high-throughput synthesis and screening of heparin and for the fabrication of an artificial Golgi.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Tatiana N
TN
Laremore
Fuming
F
Zhang
Jonathan S
JS
Dordick
Jian
J
Liu
Robert J
RJ
Linhardt
D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism; D006493:Heparin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D006801:Humans; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006493:Heparin