Abstract
Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) exhibit a variety of functions in cellular differentiation and interaction. Also, they are known to play a role as receptors in pathogen invasion. A less well-explored feature is the role of GSLs in immune cell function which is the subject of this review article. Here we summarize knowledge on GSL expression patterns in different immune cells. We review the changes in GSL expression during immune cell development and differentiation, maturation, and activation. Furthermore, we review how immune cell GSLs impact membrane organization, molecular signaling, and trans-interactions in cellular cross-talk. Another aspect covered is the role of GSLs as targets of antibody-based immunity in cancer. We expect that recent advances in analytical and genome editing technologies will help in the coming years to further our knowledge on the role of GSLs as modulators of immune cell function.
Highlights
The surface of cells is covered with glycans that are part of glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans, or glycosphingolipids (GSLs)
These proteins are differentially expressed throughout the immune system giving rise to a large variability in GSL expression patterns which suggests a functional role for GSLs in immune cell development or activation [4]
Investigators have discovered on a molecular level that GSLs are essential for the recruitment of proteins to specific membrane microdomains and that GSLs can directly interact with surface receptors
Summary
The surface of cells is covered with glycans (or carbohydrates) that are part of glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans, or glycosphingolipids (GSLs). Monocytes and macrophages seem to have a different neutral GSL composition compared to other human myeloid immune cells since they express globosides ((iso)Gb3 and Gb4) as the major neutral GSLs [36, 44, 45, 48, 52]. Both human and murine B cells express GalCer, GlcCer, LacCer, and globosides, but only immature B cells contain (neo)lacto-series GSLs since activated B cells lack expression of the Lc3 synthase B3GNT5 [23, 63, 65, 66].
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