Strategies for the preparation of homogenous glycoproteins

Abstract

The majority of human proteins are glycosylated, and many of them are known to be involved in important biological processes. This class of proteins is often expressed as a heterogeneous mixture of glycoforms, rendering the isolation of individual species for various studies a difficult task. Recent advances in the development of glycoprotein synthesis have provided promising strategies, which include enzymatic, chemical and in vivo suppressor tRNA methods to obtain homogenous products. Nevertheless, there are many remaining challenges to overcome in both the chemical and biochemical approaches to efficiently obtain homogenous glycoproteins for glycobiology research and for the production of pharmaceutical products. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.