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Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_5625_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана

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The glycan microarray technology has been successfully applied in the cancer
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research field. The aberrant glycan signatures expressed at the cell surface of neo­plastic cells actively support the establishment of an immune‐suppressive microen­vironment that facilitates tumor onset and progression [12]. Cancer‐specific abnormal glycan antigens act as natural ligands for specific membrane‐bound or secreted immune receptors. These receptors, which include Siglecs, galectins, and C‐type lectins, constitute GBPs bearing unique glycan specificities that tightly con­trol the activation threshold of several immune cell populations. Importantly, gly­can microarrays have been used to determine the degree of N‐glycan branching as well as the Neu5Ac linkage specificity and sulfation status regulating the binding preferences of several receptors of the Siglec family[58, 81–83]. The same strategy was applied to characterize the binding specificity of distinct galectins, including their branching preferences and linkage‐dependent tolerance to Neu5Ac motifs [58, 69, 84]. The comprehensive profiling of these multivalent interactions, in par­ticular the identification of which glycan epitopes are bound by specific immune receptors, is fundamental for the establishment of functional associations between specific glycosylation signatures of cancer cells and well‐defined outputs of immune response. Such knowledge can not only be the stepping stone for the design of novel anticancer immunotherapies but also an invaluable source of predictive and strati­fying biomarkers of immunotherapeutic response. The glycan microarray technol­ogy has also been extensively applied for cancer biomarker validation by allowing the miniaturized, multiplexed, and parallel screening of large numbers of analytes, samples, and replicates in a single experiment. In particular, glycan microarrays constitute useful tools to screen and compare the serum antibody repertoire of healthy individuals and cancer patients, which is indispensable for the development of highly specific anticancer vaccines targeting tumor‐associated glycan antigens and the identification of glycan‐based cancer biomarkers[75, 85–90]. A microarray of aberrantly glycosylated MUC1 O‐glycopeptides has been developed to assess the antigenicity of these tumor‐associated structures through the screening of MUC1‐ targeting mAbs and cancer patient serum samples[91, 92]. The glycan microarray technology has been applied to the rapid screening of hybridomas for the selection of the most specific mAb candidates against a target glycan antigen[75]. Of rele­vance to the cancer research field, glycan microarrays have been successfully used to infer the substrate specificity of individual glycosyltransferases (GTs) [93, 94]. Furthermore, this technology may be used to assess the efficacy of therapeutic inhibitors targeting glycan‐dependent molecular interactions[95].
171 In Vitro, In Vivo, and Ex Vivo
6.6 Glycoengineered In Vitro, In Vivo, and Ex Vivo Models
The nontemplate‐driven and highly dynamic nature of protein glycosylation poses several challenges to the study of the functional role of complex carbohydrates in biological systems. Additionally, the partially overlapping substrate specificities and compensatory activity of related GTs hinder the systematic dissection of specific
 
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glycosylation pathways and the establishment of robust associations between one enzyme’s activity and the unequivocal expression of specific cancer‐associated gly­can epitopes. Such limitations have motivated the development of glycoengineered invitro models of disease, in which the glycome’s complexity and heterogeneity are simplified so that the exact phenotypical contributions of specific glycosylation pat­terns can be pinpointed[96]. The precise editing of genomic loci codifying for vari­ous elements of the cellular glycosylation machinery (e.g. GTs, glycosidases, molecular chaperones, and monosaccharide transporters) has generated an unprec­edented catalog of isogenic cell lines depicting the loss or gain of selected glycosyla­tion capacities[97–99]. These invitro platforms can be exploited for the systematic functional dissection of the human glycome at the single‐cell level[100]. Moreover, glycoengineering strategies have found wide applicability in the design and recom­binant expression of carbohydrate‐based therapeutics, such as enzymes and immu­noglobulins, which require highly controlled, well‐defined, and homogeneous glycosylation profiles [101–104]. Furthermore, glycoengineered mammalian cell lines in which the expression of a target gene of interest has been either silenced or activated represent appealing platforms for the screening of selective inhibitors tar­geting specific glycosylation pathways and enzymes.
Initial studies based on random mutagenesis, plasmid‐based overexpression, and targeted homologous recombination knock‐out (KO) of glycosylation‐related genes in both mammalian cell lines and animal models have led to the identification of GTs playing essential roles in early embryonic development, homeostasis, and dis­ease[96, 105, 106]. Furthermore, these studies have provided invaluable knowledge on which glycosylation steps are catalyzed by individual GTs and which ones can be performed by partially redundant isoenzymes. Additionally, site‐directed mutagen­esis has been extensively used for the selective and site‐specific abrogation of glyco­sylation in target peptidic sequences to interrogate the functional contribution of glycans to the oncogenic or tumor‐suppressive features of several relevant cancer‐ associated glycoproteins, including the E‐cadherin adhesion molecule and the epi­dermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) RTK[47, 107]. However, such approaches are extremely laborious and generate highly unpredictable and inconsistent genomic and phenotypical outcomes. Additionally, noncontrolled plasmid‐based GT overex­pression often produces unforeseen compensatory perturbations in multiple glyco­sylation pathways, which prevents the unequivocal assignment of observed glycophenotypes to the function of specific GT‐coding genes. On the other hand, RNA interference‐based strategies frequently lead to incomplete downregulation of the target protein, which translates into highly variable glycophenotypes.
The stable genetic engineering of glycan‐related genes has been significantly sim­plified with the advent of precise genome editing technologies, characterized by high precision, consistency, and speed at a reduced cost. These include zinc‐finger nucleases (ZFNs)[108], transcription activator‐like effector nucleases (TALENs) [109], and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats with the CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)[110, 111]. All of the aforementioned genome editing tools can be used to achieve efficient silencing of a selected gene through the introduction of site‐specific double‐strand breaks in the DNA sequence
of a target genomic locus. In the CRISPR/Cas9 system, a complementary short guide
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RNA (gRNA) molecule is used to direct the activity of the Cas9nuclease to a pre­specified site of the target nucleotide sequence[111]. The produced double‐strand breaks are then repaired by the error‐prone nonhomologous end joining (NHRJ) cellular mechanism, which results in mutations or small insertions/deletions (indels) at the cleavage site that disrupt the expression of the target gene by shifting its open reading frame (ORF). Currently, multiple engineering events, including both KOs and knock‐ins (KIs), can be easily and rapidly performed in the same cell line, which allows the generation of catalog invitro models depicting virtually any desired glycophenotype [99]. Importantly, the successful application of genetic engineering strategies requires comprehensive knowledge of the target glycosyla­tion pathways in the selected cell host, namely the cell line‐dependent expression profiles of the target GTs, but also of possible isoenzymes catalyzing redundant bio­synthetic steps. This data not only aids in the prediction of structural glycomic out­comes but also facilitates the rational selection of the most directed and appropriate genome editing pipeline. Recently, comprehensive lentiviral and plasmid‐based libraries of validated high‐efficiency gRNAs for the specific targeting of every known GT‐coding gene have been constructed and made globally available to the scientific community [98, 112]. Moreover, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been adapted to allow the transcription activation of target dormant genes through the fusion of an inactive Cas9nuclease with specific transcription factors. This strategy has been successfully used to activate the expression of ST6GAL1 and MGAT3 GT‐ coding genes in the CHO cell line[113].
Nuclease‐based genome editing strategies also support the stable integration, or KI, of exogenous glycosylation‐related genes provided to the cell system under the form of a homologous DNA template[99, 101]. This technology has been success­fully used in the unbiased dissection of the substrate specificity and functional role of partially redundant GT isoenzymes, as shown for multiple polypeptide N‐ acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (ppGalNAcTs) [114]. More recently, a ZFN‐ based KI system was adapted to allow the inducible expression of individual ppGal­NAcTs over a KO background in HEK293 cells and demonstrated that isoform‐specific substrates are glycosylated in a dose‐dependent manner[115]. A similar KO/rescue system was used for the stable integration of the ppGalNAcT6‐coding gene in colon cancer cells, which led to the disclosure of this enzyme’s active role in regulating cellular growth and differentiation[116].
Genetic glycoengineering has proven a useful tool when combined within glyco­proteomic pipelines for glycosite and glycopeptide discovery and validation by reduc­ing glycosylation diversity and heterogeneity and, thus, facilitating glycan‐directed enrichment strategies. In the SimpleCell system, the KO of either the COSMC or C1GALT1 transferase‐coding genes through precise genome editing prevents the extension of mucin‐type O‐glycan chains beyond the single N‐acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) Tn antigen[43, 117, 118]. These isogenic cell lines depicting simplified O‐glycosylation were used towards the comprehensive MS‐based mapping and characterization of the GalNAc‐type O‐glycoproteome by allowing the efficient cap­ture and enrichment of O‐glycopeptides by the Tn‐binding Vicia villosa agglutinin
173 In Vitro, In Vivo, and Ex Vivo
 
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(VVA) and have led to the unprecedented identification of thousands of O‐glycopro­teins and O‐glycosites across multiple invitro cancer models. The same strategy has been applied to the identification of O‐mannosylated substrates[119].
One of the major drawbacks of glycan microarrays is related to the inability of such platforms to present the printed and immobilized glycan ligands in their natu­ral cell surface context. The wide application of precise genome editing technologies targeting virtually all known mammalian glycosylation‐related genes has allowed the establishment of comprehensive cell‐based libraries composed of isogenic cell lines systematically modified to depict any intended glycosylation features by the use of combinatorial KO/KI strategies [21, 82, 120]. The replacement of isolated glycan‐based ligands by glycoengineered cell lines allows for the screening of glycan‐dependent molecular interactions while preserving their natural cell‐ dependent context and is conveniently compatible with high‐throughput cell‐based assays. Cell‐based arrays composed of glycoengineered cell lines have been success­fully applied to gain insights on the functional role and binding specificities of endothelial selectins, galectins, and Siglec receptors[82, 121]. Precise genome edit­ing technology has been successfully used to completely deplete the HEK293 cell line of its sialylation capacities[82]. The generated Neu5Ac‐null HEK293 cells then served as a “white canvas” cellular platform in which the combinatorial loss/gain of individual sialyl‐ and sulfotransferases allowed the comprehensive characterization and structural elucidation of the selective glycan‐binding preferences and protein‐ specific context underlying the Siglec–glycan human interactome. Information on the fine glycan‐binding specificities of human Siglecs is indispensable for the func­tional dissection of molecular resistance mechanisms hampering the clinical devel­opment and implementation of antitumor immunotherapeutic strategies.
The combination of chemical and genetic engineering methodologies toward pre­cise metabolic glycan labeling has provided invaluable insights on the dynamics of the cell surface glycoproteome and allowed the unequivocal assignment of isoform‐ specific substrate preferences depicted by partially redundant isoenzymes, in par­ticular the ppGalNAcT family [122–127]. Glycosylation metabolic labeling and tagging are based on the use of highly selective bioorthogonal reactions between two complementary, chemically modified functional groups that do not occur natu­rally in living systems. These chemically engineered probes must be biologically inert, i.e. they must not perturb the homeostatic function of target macromolecules in which they are incorporated while remaining highly selective toward each other, a strategy otherwise known as “click chemistry”[128]. Such bioorthogonal meta­bolic labeling probes are equipped with either visualization or enrichment tags that support a diverse range of downstream applications, including live visualization through imaging techniques and MS‐based structural analysis. In the “bump‐and‐ hole” strategy, the catalytic pocket of an individual ppGalNAcT enzyme (hole) is enlarged by targeted amino acid substitutions through genetic engineering to accommodate a complementary, chemically modified UDP‐GalNAc analog (bump) that is incorporated by the selected cell host[123]. The fact that this modified sub­strate is uniquely recognized by the mutant enzyme makes the interacting pair orthogonal to all other competing GTs within the same cell host, which allows the
live detection of isoform‐specific functions within a complex living experimental
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system. Indeed, the compatibility of oligosaccharide metabolic engineering strate­gies with animal models allows for invivo labeling, noninvasive imaging, and track­ing of glycan‐mediated interactions in their native environment[129, 130]. A click chemistry‐based strategy using alkyne‐tagged Neu5Ac monosaccharides has been successfully employed in the live tracking of sialylation to probe the specificity of Siglec‐based interactions in HEK293 cells[82]. A chemoenzymatic glycan editing strategy was successfully employed for the generation of natural killer (NK) cells capable of the multivalent presentation of high‐affinity ligands for the CD22 cell surface receptor overexpressed in B‐cell lymphomas[131].
Glycoengineered animal models, carrying genetic defects on central
glycosylation‐ related genes through homozygous targeted gene mutation, have unveiled the essential function of several GTs and their respective glycan products in mamma­lian embryonic development[105, 132–135]. Moreover, the organ‐ and tissue‐spe­cific conditional deletion of glycogenes has disclosed their function in central physiological and pathological processes, such as neurogenesis[136], fertility[137, 138], immunity[139, 140], and neoplastic transformation[141–148]. The CFG has comprehensively characterized the phenotype of 36mutant mouse strains carrying genetic deficiencies in different GTs and GBPs[106]. Despite glycoengineered cell lines providing important mechanistic insights on glycan regulation and function, the comprehensive study of the functional role played by cancer‐associated glycan epitopes and specific GTs in human malignant transformation requires more com­plex in vivo models in which organ‐specific carcinogenesis can be recapitulated. Importantly, the crossbreeding of glycogene‐deficient strains with mice models of spontaneous carcinogenesis has significantly expanded the invivo toolbox for con­ditional, organ‐specific glycoengineering. Such animal systems have highlighted TACAs and the enzymes responsible for their biosynthesis as major regulators of the intricate network of cellular and molecular interactions occurring within the tumor microenvironment, including the interaction of cancer cells with immune cell populations and ECM components. Moreover, they offer an integrative and sys­temic view of the biological activity of glycosylation‐targeting therapeutic agents and represent, therefore, appealing platforms for their preclinical testing.
Targeted gene mutation of Mgat5, which codifies for a GT catalyzing the β1,6‐ branching of N‐glycan antennae, has disclosed branched complex N‐glycans as active drivers of tumor growth and metastatic dissemination in a viral‐induced mice model of breast carcinogenesis[146]. The development of Mgat5‐null mice models of spontaneous intestinal carcinogenesis has further established the pivotal role played by β1,6‐branched N‐glycan structures in the immune‐based recognition and elimination of colorectal cancer cells [144]. The genetic silencing of ST6Gal1 in mice bearing spontaneous, viral‐induced mammary tumors has functionally impli­cated this enzyme, responsible for the terminal capping of N‐glycan chains with α2,6Neu5Ac, in the maintenance of tumor stemness and differentiation[147]. These observations were further confirmed through the conditional restoration of ST6Gal1 activity in cell lines derived from ST6Gal1‐null tumors. Mice with the inducible expression of the human FUT3 and β3GALT5 transgenes restricted to the
175 In Vitro, In Vivo, and Ex Vivo
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gastrointestinal tract exhibit a significant increase in the serum levels of the CA 19.9
a
(sialyl Lewis a [sLe
]) glycoconjugate and spontaneously develop severe pancreati­tis, which progresses to aggressive pancreatic adenocarcinoma in the presence of the Kras oncogene[141]. The homozygous KO of Fut2 in mice, through genetic recombination of embryonic stem cells, abrogates the expression of the α1,2
b
di‐ fucosylated Lewis b (Le
) antigen, which successfully prevents the adhesion of BabA‐dependent H. pylori strains to the stomach’s epithelial lining [49, 148]. In addition, the conditional silencing of C1Galt1 in the mouse gastric epithelium leads to the spontaneous development of gastritis with progression to Tn‐overexpressing adenocarcinomas[145]. Such observations demonstrate that genetic defects in sin­gle GTs are sufficient to trigger tumor onset and progression and portray glycoengi­neered mouse strains as robust in vivo models of organ‐specific spontaneous neoplastic transformation.
Patient‐derived xenografts (PDXs) and PDX‐derived organoids reliably recapitulate the genomic and phenotypical features of the individual tumors from which they originated, including therapeutic drug response (reviewed in[149, 150]). By retain­ing inter‐ and intratumor molecular heterogeneity, PDX models constitute, therefore, appealing platforms for translational and preclinical research. N‐glycomic analysis of pancreatic cancer‐derived PDX models demonstrated their ability to accurately recapitulate the invivo glycosylation landscape[151]. Furthermore, PDX models pro- vide a nonhuman background, which constitutes an advantage in proteomics‐based biomarker discovery. Several unique N‐glycopeptides have been identified in the sera of mice bearing PDX established from high‐grade serous ovarian carcinoma patients[152].
6.7 Structural Elucidation ofGlycoconjugates: Glycomic and Glycoproteomic Strategies
The mammalian cell glycome is characterized by formidable complexity and diver­sity. Although complex glycan biosynthesis relies on the enzymatic assembly of a limited number of monosaccharide units, comprehensive glycan identification remains technically challenging. The structural characterization of carbohydrates by MS‐based analytical methods is of major importance since the majority of glycan‐ mediated interactions occurring within biological systems are strictly dependent on the glycan’s tridimensional structure. However, several unique features of glycans hamper their exact structural elucidation. These include the large number of pos­sible branching sites; the presence of closely related isomers with identical mono­saccharide composition within a biological sample; different anomeric configurations of glycosidic linkages; and further glycan modifications with chemically diverse functional groups (e.g. sulfate and phosphate). Furthermore, the functional role of a given glycan species is often determined by its nonglycan molecular carrier and the specific site to which the glycan is attached. Moreover, posttranslational glyco­sylation includes several extremely labile groups, such as terminal Neu5Ac motifs, which are often lost during analyte fragmentation[153]. Therefore, the unequivocal
       
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identification and structural characterization of glycan species in a complex biologi­cal sample (e.g. cell line, tumor specimen, and body fluid) requires the coupling of methods for efficient glycan separation with high‐resolution and sensitive MS‐based analytical workflows. However, most analytical methods still require the laborious and time‐consuming manual interpretation of complex fragmentation data.
Depending on the biological question, glycans can be analyzed either separately from their nonglycan counterparts (MS‐based glycomics) or while still attached to their protein carriers (MS‐based glycoproteomics). In the typical N‐glycomic work­flow, the biological sample to be analyzed is usually homogenized and lysed, pro­teins are irreversibly denaturated in the presence of reducing agents such as β‐mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol, and N‐glycans are released through enzymatic digestion with PNGase F[154, 155]. PNGase F digestion is fast, robust, and highly efficient in the liberation of all classes of N‐glycans. Due to the lack of known enzymes capable of cleaving O‐glycan chains from glycoproteins, chemical‐based strategies such as reductive β‐elimination and hydrazinolysis remain the gold stand- ard for total O‐glycan release[156].
Released glycans can then undergo chemical derivatization at their reducing end, or be directly analyzed in their native form[157]. Released glycan species contain a reactive carbonyl group at their reducing end that can be readily derivatized. Derivatization methods equalize the chemical properties of glycans and are espe­cially suitable for: glycan labeling with fluorescent tags to allow sensitive analyte detection; stabilization of the most labile groups of glycan chains, in particular Neu5Ac moieties, which can be easily lost during sample ionization; and providing every released glycan species with a uniform charge, which improves their ioniza­tion efficiency. This is of particular importance since carbohydrates are not as easily transferred to the gas phase as proteins or peptides, which are ubiquitously proto­nated, and do not ionize as efficiently, being particularly susceptible to ion suppres­sion when using positive ion mode analysis[155]. Moreover, during the ionization process of an analyte mixture, more hydrophobic biomolecules will cause the ion suppression of less hydrophobic ones. It is, thus, advisable to separate glycans according to their acidity prior to MS analysis. The most widely used derivatization strategies include reductive amination and glycan permethylation[157]. The latter method precludes the formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds, which increase glycan hydrophobicity, volatility, and, consequently, ion signal intensity. Besides, it favors the formation of diagnostic fragment ions, i.e. monosaccharide oxonium ions, which provide invaluable structural information. Additionally, glycan per­methylation prevents intramolecular rearrangements, such as fucose transfer between the N‐glycan core and antennae, which preclude unequivocal glycan struc­tural assignment[158]. Finally, by eliminating the negative charge from Neu5Ac moieties, glycan derivatization stabilizes sialylated groups for positive ion mode analysis[159]. Recently, a novel method for linkage‐specific Neu5Ac derivatization was developed based on the ethyl esterification of α2,6Neu5Ac groups, followed by the lactonization and sequential stable amidation of α2,3Neu5Ac motifs[160]. This Neu5Ac derivatization method has been applied to confirm the abrogation of α2,6‐ sialylated N‐glycan species from the ErbB2 glycome in ST6GAL1 KO gastric cancer cells[48].
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 
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Especially when dealing with complex samples characterized by a diverse reper­toire of isomeric or closely related structures, glycan separation is required prior to MS‐based analysis. Indeed, the selected separation method can also facilitate iso­meric glycan resolution. The combination of high‐performance liquid chromatogra­phy (HPLC)‐based separation with the speed and sensitivity of tandem MS represents one of the most widely used glycan‐directed analytical strategies[161]. Online LC‐MS/MS provides distinct types of information that aid in the qualitative and semiquantitative analysis of glycan structures based on analyte retention time, accurate mass, and tandem fragmentation spectra. MS‐generated data provides insights into glycan class and composition, glycan structure, and relative abun­dance. Porous graphitized carbon (PGC)[162, 163], solid‐phase hydrophilic interac­tion liquid chromatography (SPE‐HILIC)[160, 164], and capillary electrophoresis (CE)[160, 164–166] represent robust methods to achieve well‐resolved glycan iso­meric separation. Analyte retention and separation power provided by each method are determined by features such as hydrophobicity, polarity, and the establishment of weak electrostatic and ionic interactions between the analyte and distinct station­ary phases. A PGC‐LC‐MS/MS workflow has been used for the structural elucida­tion of N‐glycans released from the heavily glycosylated CEA adhesion molecule,
x
which led to the identification of CEA as a molecular carrier of sLe
in highly glyco­engineered cell models of metastatic gastric cancer [46]. Isomeric ion separation can also be achieved in the gas phase through the modern ion‐mobility spectrome­try method, which determines the size‐, shape‐, and charge‐dependent mobility of gas‐phased ions depending on their collisional cross‐section size [167, 168]. Furthermore, the performance of tandem MS allows the accurate identification of isomeric species based on distinctive fragmentation patterns.
Over the last decades, a wide array of MS instrumentation and methods have been employed for the structural elucidation of glycoconjugates. However, MALDI and electrospray ionization (ESI) are amongst the most commonly used. MALDI consti­tutes a soft ionization technique in which analytes are embedded within a crystal­ized energy‐absorbent acidic matrix that, upon excitation by a short UV laser pulse, promotes analyte evaporation and the generation of protonated ions with minimal or no fragmentation [169]. When using MALDI to analyze nonderivatized native glycans, labile acidic groups such as Neu5Ac, fucose, sulfate, and phosphate are often lost during the analyte ionization process due to the significant vibrational excitation of generated ions[170]. Loss of glycan labile groups can be circumvented through glycan stabilization by derivatization protocols, such as permethylation. On the other hand, in ESI‐based ionization, a solution containing the target analytes is infused through an electroconductive needle to which an electric field is applied, causing the formation of extremely fine analyte‐containing droplets, which readily evaporate to form MS‐detectable charged ions[171]. In this method, acidic glycans and other labile ions undergo significantly less fragmentation and can, thus, be sub­jected to direct MS analysis[172]. In ESI, however, hydrophilic native glycans pref­erably occupy the center of formed droplets and have their ionization efficiency suppressed by more hydrophobic species occupying the droplet periphery[173]. Ion suppression can, however, be minimized by significantly reducing droplet size and,
       
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consequently, the concentration of suppressing molecules through the use of nanoscale ESI setups[160]. Moreover, when compared with MALDI, ESI produces better resolved peaks for glycoconjugates due to the absence of matrix‐derived adduct peaks.
In the case of glycoproteins, site‐specific mapping and structural characterization of attached glycan species are usually warranted. This type of structural analysis can be performed on intact glycoproteins (top‐down glycoproteomics) or glycopeptides resulting from proteolytic digestion (bottom‐up glycoproteomics). Although trypsin remains the gold standard enzyme for the digestion of glycoproteins into glycosylated and nonglycosylated peptides, tryptic glycopeptides may harbor multiple glycosyla­tion sites or be too long to be readily analyzed by MS[174]. Indeed, post-translational glycosylation often protects the peptidic backbone from enzymatic digestion (miscle­avage), yielding longer glycopeptides that are not as easily ionizable[175]. Thus, the use of other proteases bearing distinct cleavage specificities or the combination of multiple digesting enzymes may allow for wider and more comprehensive glycopro­teome coverage[176, 177]. However, the use of less specific proteases may generate glycopeptides that are not unique and that produce poorly understood fragmentation patterns, thus hampering precise glycopeptide assignment.
Ideally, glycoproteomic methods should allow the comprehensive elucidation of tridimensional glycan structures and their unequivocal assignment to specific amino acid residues within a given glycopeptide. The format in which glycoproteins are analyzed and the selection of the most appropriate analytical method depend on the complexity of the biological sample and the depth of characterization required. Such considerations are of particular importance when analyzing glycoproteins harboring multiple glycosylation sites, depicting both macro‐ and microheterogeneity[172]. Importantly, the post-translational glycosylation of proteins increases their hydro­philicity and surface activity and severely decreases their ionization efficiency[178]. In fact, in a complex mixture of enzymatically digested peptides, the high ionization efficiency of less acidic nonglycosylated peptides causes the ion suppression of low‐ abundancy, more acidic, and hydrophilic glycopeptides, especially when using posi­tive ion mode analysis. For this reason, glycopeptide enrichment strategies are often required to achieve confident MS‐based glycopeptide identification. Lectin affinity chromatography has been widely used for glycopeptide enrichment purposes[179]. The wide range of glycan structures recognized by less specific lectins, such as wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), concanavalin A (ConA), and jacalin (JAC), makes these GBPs ideal for the less strict enrichment of large portions of the target glycopro­teome. Lectins bearing narrower carbohydrate specificity, such as the ones binding to linkage‐specific sialylated glycans (e.g. Sambucus nigra agglutinin [SNA] and Maackia amurensis lectin [MAL]), can be used for the selective enrichment of defined subsets of oligosaccharides. Interestingly, Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA) was used to guide the direct dissection of lectin‐stained neoplastic tissue sec­tions of cholangiocarcinoma for subsequent agarose‐bound lectin chromatography toward cancer biomarker discovery[180]. Furthermore, multiple lectins can be seri­ally combined to achieve improved glycopeptide purification (multi‐lectin affinity chromatography)[181]. This strategy has been successfully used in the identification
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 
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of cancer‐specific serum biomarkers in multiple solid tumors, including pros­tate [182], breast carcinoma [183, 184], and cholangiocarcinoma [185]. The Tn‐binding VVA lectin was used for the affinity capture of simplified mucin‐type O‐ glycosylated peptides generated by the SimpleCell glycoengineering strategy and allowed the identification of over 600 distinct glycoproteins and close to 3000 O‐glycosites[117]. However, regardless of their glycan specificity, no single lectin or combination of lectins can encompass the entire glycoproteome. Other affinity‐based chemical strategies, including titanium dioxide (TiO
) enrichment and hydrazide
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chemistry, have been used for the enrichment of sialylated glycopeptides. TiO acts with Neu5Ac through multipoint binding while voiding neutral glycopeptides or nonglycosylated peptides [186]. TiO
enrichment followed by MS‐based identifica-
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tion of sialylated glycopeptides was successfully performed in the serum of bladder cancer patients to identify cancer‐specific circulating biomarkers and to illustrate the overall increase in sialylation triggered by malignant transformation[187]. When using this enrichment strategy, however, elution of polysialylated glycans is diffi­cult[188]. Hydrazide chemistry is based on aldehyde formation from oxidized glyco­peptides [189]. Glycans are then covalently immobilized on a solid hydrazide substrate, followed by the release of the peptide moiety by PNGase F digestion, which allows for peptide sequencing and identification of glycosylated residues. However, this enrichment strategy does not provide structural information on glycan chains since it fails to produce intact glycoconjugates for subsequent MS analysis. Also, by being PNGase F‐dependent, hydrazide chemistry is not suitable for the MS‐based analysis of O‐glycoproteins[189, 190]. Hydrazide chemistry has been employed to dissect the tumor‐specific glycoproteome of hepatocellular[191], lung[192], pros­tate[193], and breast carcinomas [194]. SPE‐HILIC and SPE‐PGC, which can be directly coupled to different mass spectrometers, represent widely used strategies for glycopeptide separation, clean‐up, and enrichment and are based on weak molecular interactions (e.g. hydrogen bonding, ionic, and dipole–dipole interactions) estab­lished between carbohydrate‐containing analytes and a polar stationary phase. HILIC‐based glycopeptide enrichment has been used to illustrate differences in the sialylation levels of selected protein biomarker candidates, including haptoglobin and transferrin, in the serum of gastric cancer patients[195], as well as to quantify differences in the fucosylation levels of the α1‐acid‐glycoprotein in the serum of indi­viduals bearing pancreatic cancer and precancerous pancreatic lesions[196]. HILIC‐ based enrichment of fluorescently labeled N‐glycans led to the discovery of the RON
x
oncogenic RTK as a molecular carrier of the sLe
tumor‐associated glycan antigen in ST3Gal4‐overexpressing gastric cancer cell lines[45]. HILIC has been used for glyco­protein purification from colorectal cancer clinical tissue specimens, followed by
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MALDI‐(time‐of‐flight)
‐MS (MALDI‐TOF/TOF‐MS) analysis of total released N‐glycans[197]. Analyzed tumor tissues harbored a decrease in glycan species carry­ing bisecting GlcNAc and an increase in sulfated, paucimannosidic, and sialofuco­sylated glycan determinants when compared to nontransformed healthy control tissues.
Proper glycopeptide assignment requires intact glycopeptide analysis and thor-
ough glycan structural characterization. Detailed fragmentation information from
inter-
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