题目:The N-link Sugar Chains of Ig G:Their Unique Patterns and Their Functional Roles
报告人: 木幡阳教授(Akira Kobata,前国际糖复合物学会主席, 原东京大学生化系主任, 是国际糖化学与糖生物学领域著名专家)
地点: 苏州大学独墅湖校区医学楼403-3119
时间:2008.10.23 下午二点半
Main achievements of Akira Kobata
· At the Central Research Institute of Takeda Chemical Co., Kobata elucidated the biosynthetic pathway of vitamin B1, and found novel UDP-oligosaccharides in human milk and porcine milk.
· During his stay in NIH, he elucidated the whole biosynthetic pathway of ABH and Lewis antigenic determinants, and elucidated the structures of newly found human milk oligosaccharides: lacto-N-fucopentaose III, lacto-N-hexaose, and lacto-N-neohexaose.
· During his history as the Professor of Kobe University, he developed a series of sensitive methods to investigate the structures of the N-linked sugar chains. The methods include the enzymatic and chemical means to release quantitatively the N-linked sugar chains from glycoproteins, methods to label oligosaccharides quantitatively with tritium, a series of methods to fractionate the tritium-labeled oligosaccharides, and various sensitive methods to elucidate the structures of oligosaccharides. By using these methods, he elucidated the following important structural rules included in the N-linked sugar chains of various mammals.
1. The N-linked sugar chains can be classified into three subgroups: high mannose-type, complex-type, and hybrid-type.
2. A double branched heptasaccharide is included as a common core of the high mannose-type sugar chains.
Based on these findings, the famous biosynthetic pathway of N-linked sugar chains was elucidated by the independent researches of Robbins’ group and Kornfeld’s group.
· During his career as the Professor of the University of Tokyo, he expanded his research to the structures, metabolism, functions and pathology of the N-linked sugar chains. These studies can be classified into the following topics.
1. Finding of the species-specificities, organ-specificities and the site-specificities of the N-linked sugar chains.
2. Elucidation of the structures of the oligosaccharides and glycopeptides excreted in the urine samples of GM1-gangliosidosis, fucosidosis, and mannosidosis patients. Based on these findings, the whole metabolic pathways of the N-linked sugar chains of glycoproteins was proposed.
3. Elucidation of the altered glycosylation of proteins produced by various malignant cells, and their application for the diagnosis and immunotherapy of tumors.
4. Elucidation of the characteristic features of the N-linked sugar chains of immunoglobulin G, their functional roles, and their alterations in various pathological conditions.
5. Elucidation of the structural characteristics and their functional roles of the sugar chains of human chorionic gonadotropin, and human erythropoietin.
· During his carrier as the Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, he developed a new glycobiology area in the field of aging research. A part of these works were presented in his review article written in 2003 (Biochimie 85, 13-24).
(基础医学与生物科学学院)
