Lectin Microarray Service

What is Lectin Microarray?

Lectins, a diverse group of proteins or glycoproteins, exhibit selective binding to specific carbohydrate moieties. Leveraging this inherent affinity, lectin microarray facilitates the comprehensive profiling of glycan structures present in biological samples. The foundation of this technique lies in the immobilization of various lectins onto a solid support, such as glass slides or microplates, forming an array of distinct binding sites. Subsequently, fluorescently labeled glycans or glycoproteins are applied to the array, enabling the detection of lectin-carbohydrate interactions through fluorescence-based readouts.

Principle of Lectin Microarray

At the core of lectin microarray lies the principle of carbohydrate-lectin recognition. Lectins, owing to their structural diversity and unique binding specificities, can selectively recognize and bind to specific glycan structures. By arraying a panel of lectins onto a solid substrate in a spatially defined manner, lectin microarray enables high-throughput screening of diverse carbohydrate structures within a single experiment. Upon incubation with fluorescently labeled glycans or glycoproteins, the binding patterns between lectins and carbohydrates are visualized and quantified, providing valuable insights into glycan expression profiles and interactions.

Lectin Microarray Platform Offered by Creative Proteomics

Glycan Profiling: Lectin microarrays allow for comprehensive analysis of glycan structures present in biological samples. This includes identifying specific glycan structures and their abundance.

Glycoprotein Binding Specificity: The platform can determine the binding specificity of lectins towards glycoproteins, elucidating their interaction patterns.

Disease Biomarker Discovery: Lectin microarrays facilitate the discovery of glycan-based biomarkers associated with various diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders.

Drug Development: By understanding lectin-glycan interactions, the platform aids in the development of therapeutic agents targeting specific glycan structures involved in disease processes.

Glycan-mediated Signaling Studies: It enables investigations into glycan-mediated signaling pathways and their roles in cellular processes such as cell adhesion, migration, and differentiation.

Quality Control in Biopharmaceuticals: Lectin microarrays can be employed for quality control assessments of glycosylated biopharmaceuticals, ensuring consistency and efficacy.

Characterization of Cell Surface Glycans: The platform facilitates the characterization of cell surface glycans, providing insights into cellular functions and interactions.

Understanding Host-Pathogen Interactions: Lectin microarrays contribute to the study of host-pathogen interactions by elucidating the role of glycans in microbial adhesion and infection processes.

Workflow of Lectin Microarray Services

a) Sample Submission and Consultation

Initiating the process, clients submit samples and engage in a consultative dialogue with Creative Proteomics experts. This crucial step ensures alignment of experimental design with research objectives, optimizing outcomes.

b) Array Design and Optimization

Custom lectin microarrays are meticulously designed, tailoring lectin panels to specific research needs. Optimization protocols are fine-tuned to enhance sensitivity and reproducibility, ensuring optimal performance.

c) Sample Labeling and Incubation

Samples undergo precise fluorescent labeling for accurate detection of lectin-carbohydrate interactions. Controlled incubation conditions facilitate selective binding, crucial for reliable data acquisition.

d) Washing and Detection

Rigorous washing protocols eliminate unbound molecules, reducing background noise and enhancing signal specificity. High-resolution microarray scanners capture fluorescence signals, facilitating precise quantification.

e) Data Analysis and Interpretation

Advanced bioinformatics tools analyze raw data, extracting key parameters such as glycan binding profiles. Results are interpreted in context, unveiling meaningful biological insights essential for further exploration.

f) Report Delivery and Follow-Up

Comprehensive reports summarizing findings are delivered to clients, providing detailed data summaries and interpretation. Ongoing support ensures clients leverage their lectin microarray data effectively for future research endeavors.

A total scheme of antibody-overlay lectin microarray analysis (Hounsell et al., 2008).

Advantages of Lectin Microarray

High-Throughput Profiling: Lectin microarrays enable you to simultaneously analyze hundreds to thousands of glycan structures in a single experiment. This platform allows for the screening of over 500 glycan structures in parallel, significantly expediting your research workflows and conserving valuable sample material.

Multiplex Analysis: With the ability to interrogate multiple lectin-carbohydrate interactions concurrently, lectin microarray technology offers unparalleled multiplexing capabilities. You can investigate up to 100 different lectin-carbohydrate interactions in a single assay, enhancing efficiency and data richness.

Sensitivity and Specificity: Lectin microarray platforms boast exceptional sensitivity and specificity, with detection limits reaching as low as picomolar concentrations. This high sensitivity enables you to detect subtle glycan variations, while stringent quality control measures ensure minimal background noise, enhancing the reliability of your results.

Customization and Flexibility: You benefit from the flexibility and customization options available in lectin microarray services. With a library of over 100 lectins, you can tailor experiments to your specific research interests and sample types. Custom array designs accommodate your unique experimental requirements, ensuring relevance and precision.

Quantitative Analysis: Quantitative analysis capabilities empower you to quantify lectin-carbohydrate interactions with precision. Lectin microarray platforms enable quantitative measurement of binding affinities, with dynamic ranges spanning several orders of magnitude. This quantitative data enhances the accuracy and robustness of your experimental findings.

Multiparametric Insights: Integrating lectin microarray data with complementary analytical techniques yields multiparametric insights into glycan-mediated processes. By combining lectin microarray data with mass spectrometry analysis, for example, you can elucidate glycan structures and their functional significance, providing a holistic view of complex biological processes.

Sample Requirements for Lectin Microarrays

Applications of Lectin Microarrays

Glycan Structure Analysis: Lectin microarrays can be used to analyze the structures of complex glycans by profiling their binding specificities to various lectins. This helps in elucidating the structural diversity and complexity of glycans in biological samples.

Quality Control in Glycoprotein Production: Lectin microarrays are employed in quality control processes for the production of glycoproteins, such as monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. They can assess the glycosylation patterns of glycoprotein products to ensure consistency and quality.

Studying Cell Surface Glycans: Lectin microarrays enable the characterization of cell surface glycans by profiling the binding specificities of lectins to glycan structures presented on cell surfaces. This helps in understanding cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion, and signaling processes.

Investigating Glycan-Mediated Diseases: Lectin microarrays are used to investigate the role of glycans in various diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. By analyzing changes in glycan expression patterns associated with disease states, researchers can gain insights into disease mechanisms and identify potential therapeutic targets.

Biosensor Development: Lectin microarrays serve as a platform for the development of glycan-based biosensors for detecting specific biomolecules or pathogens. By immobilizing lectins with known binding specificities on a solid surface, these biosensors can selectively capture and detect target molecules based on their glycan structures.

Studying Glycan-Drug Interactions: Lectin microarrays are utilized to study interactions between glycans and drugs or small molecules. This helps in understanding how drugs may interact with glycoproteins or cell surface glycans, which is important for drug development and pharmacological research.

Food and Environmental Analysis: Lectin microarrays can be applied to analyze glycans in food products or environmental samples. They can detect and quantify specific glycan structures, which is useful for food quality control, allergen detection, and environmental monitoring.

Studying Glycan Dynamics: Lectin microarrays can be used to study dynamic changes in glycan expression patterns under different physiological or pathological conditions. By comparing glycan profiles across different samples or experimental conditions, researchers can elucidate glycan dynamics and regulatory mechanisms.

Reference

1. Hounsell, Elizabeth F., ed. Glycoanalysis protocols. Vol. 76. Springer Science & Business Media, 2008.