Glicoscienza

Kappa-Carrageenan is a gelling sulphated galactan extracted from red seaweed (typically Mastocarpus stellata and Chondrus crispus). The structure of all carrageenans consists of a strictly alternating masked repeating unit of 1,3-linked α-D-galactose and 1,4-linked β-D-galactose. The α-linked galactose occurs as α-3-6-anhydro unit and the β-linked sugar occurs as the 4-sulphate.
The image was kindly provided by Prof Mike Guiry from Cork who runs ‘The Seaweed Site’.

2,5-Anhydro-D-glucitol-1,6-diphosphate is a cell signaling molecule that is involved in the regulation of glycolysis and the phosphofructokinase enzyme. It binds to platelets and regulates platelet aggregation. This enzyme has been shown to be a potential drug target for cancer. Cancer cells have been found to contain higher concentrations of 2,5-Anhydro-D-glucitol-1,6-diphosphate than their normal counterparts. The increased concentration of this enzyme in cancer cells is due to an allosteric change in the enzyme’s activity. The increased activity leads to a more rapid metabolism of glucose, which provides energy for tumor growth and metastasis. This enzyme can be used as a marker for malignancy in human diseases such as breast cancer or prostate cancer.

Globotriaosylsphingosine is dramatically increased in plasma of classically affected male Fabry patients and plasma and tissues of Fabry mice. Globotriaosylsphingosine was shown to be an inhibitor of α-galactosidase A activity. Furthermore, exposure of smooth muscle cells, but not fibroblasts, to globotriaosylsphingosine at concentrations observed in plasma of patients promotes proliferation. It was suggested that measurement of circulating globotriaosylsphingosine would be useful to monitor Fabry disease and may contribute to a better understanding of the disorder.