title: Glycoblotting method allows for rapid and efficient glycome profiling of human Alzheimer's disease brain, serum and cerebrospinal fluid towards potential biomarker discovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding of the significance of posttranslational glycosylation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is of growing importance for the investigation of the pathogenesis of AD as well as discovery research of the disease-specific serum biomarkers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We designed a standard protocol for the glycoblotting combined with MALDI-TOFMS to perform rapid and quantitative profiling of the glycan parts of glycoproteins (N-glycans) and glycosphingolipids (GSLs) using human AD's post-mortem samples such as brain tissues (dissected cerebral cortices such as frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal domains), serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The structural profiles of the major N-glycans released from glycoproteins and the total expression levels of the glycans were found to be mostly similar between the brain tissues of the AD patients and those of the normal control group. In contrast, the expression levels of the serum and CSF protein N-glycans such as bisect-type and multiply branched glycoforms were increased significantly in AD patient group. In addition, the levels of some gangliosides such as GM1, GM2 and GM3 appeared to alter in the AD patient brain and serum samples when compared with the normal control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alteration of the expression levels of major N- and GSL-glycans in human brain tissues, serum and CSF of AD patients can be monitored quantitatively by means of the glycoblotting-based standard protocols.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The changes in the expression levels of the glycans derived from the human post-mortem samples uncovered by the standardized glycoblotting method provides potential serum biomarkers in central nervous system disorders and can contribute to the insight into the molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and future drug discovery. Most importantly, the present preliminary trials using human post-mortem samples of AD patients suggest that large-scale serum glycomics cohort by means of various-types of human AD patients as well as the normal control sera can facilitate the discovery research of highly sensitive and reliable serum biomarkers for an early diagnosis of AD. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.
authors.affiliation: Field of Drug Discovery Research, Faculty of Advanced Life Science and Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, N21 W11, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Solomon T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Gizaw
authors.affiliation: Medicinal Chemistry Pharmaceuticals, Co., Ltd, N21 W12, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.affiliation: Medicinal Chemistry Pharmaceuticals, Co., Ltd, N21 W12, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Field of Drug Discovery Research, Faculty of Advanced Life Science and Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, N21 W11, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan; Medicinal Chemistry Pharmaceuticals, Co., Ltd, N21 W12, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hinou
authors.affiliation: Field of Drug Discovery Research, Faculty of Advanced Life Science and Graduate School of Life Science, Hokkaido University, N21 W11, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan; Medicinal Chemistry Pharmaceuticals, Co., Ltd, N21 W12, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan. Electronic address: shin@sci.hokudai.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shin-Ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishimura
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D054794:Glycomics / Q000379:methods*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006028:Glycosphingolipids / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006028:Glycosphingolipids; D011134:Polysaccharides
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Biomarker; Cerebrospinal fluid; Glycome; Human brain; Serum