Activation of murine CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes leads to dramatic remodeling of N-linked glycans

Activation of murine CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes leads to dramatic remodeling of N-linked glycans. Naïve and activated CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells and B cells were compared for their N-linked glycan structures by MALDI-TOF MS profiling and for expression of glycan transferase genes to assess the biosynthetic basis for any change observed. The major change observed in activated CD4 and CD8 T cells was dramatic reduction of sialylated bi-antennary N-glycans carrying the terminal NeuGc?2-6Gal sequence, and corresponding increase in glycans carrying the Gal?1-3Gal sequence. This change was accounted for by a decrease in the expression of the sialyltransferase ST6Gal, and increase in the expression of the galactosyltransferase ?1-3GalT. Conversely, in B cells no change in terminal sialylation of N-linked glycans was evident, and the expression of the same two glycosyltransferases were increased and decreased, respectively. Keywords = N-linked glycosylation, T cell, B cell, activation, glycosyltransferase, carbohydrate, glycomics, glycan, galactosyltransferase, sialyltransferase Keywords: other