Abstract
Sugar chain binding antibodies have gained substantial attention as biomarkers due to their crucial roles in various disorders. In this study, we developed simple and quick detection method of anti-sugar chain antibodies in sera using our previously developed sugar chain-immobilized fluorescent nanoparticles (SFNPs) for the point-of-care diagnostics. Sugar chain structure on SFNPs was modified with the sugar moieties of the GM1 ganglioside via our original linker molecule to detect anti-GM1 antibodies. The structures and densities of the sugar moieties immobilized on the nanoparticles were evaluated in detail using lectins and sera containing anti-GM1 antibodies from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disorder, as an example of disease involving anti-sugar chain antibodies. When optimized SFNPs were added to sera from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome, fluorescent aggregates were able to visually detect under UV light in three hours. The sensitivity of the detection method was equivalent to that of the current ELISA method used for the diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome. These results suggest that our method using SFNPs is suitable for the point-of-care diagnostics of diseases involving anti-sugar chain antibodies.
Highlights
Sugar chains found on cell surfaces are involved in various biological processes, such as cell signaling, cell-cell recognition, cancer and immunity
We demonstrated a rapid and simple diagnostic test to detect anti-GM1 antibodies in sera from patients with suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)
Because our sugar chainimmobilized fluorescent nanoparticles (SFNPs) can be prepared with various sugar chains, disease-tailored SFNPs would be powerful point-of-care diagnostic tools
Summary
Sugar chains found on cell surfaces are involved in various biological processes, such as cell signaling, cell-cell recognition, cancer and immunity. Because the structures and expression levels of sugar chains vary depending on the cell states and cellular environments, some sugar chains can be used as biomarkers [1]. Cancer cells produce various unique sugar chain markers including fucose-containing sugar chains in hepatic cancer [2,3,4]. Specific sugar chains act as antigens that bind to natural or acquired antibodies to induce an immuno-compromised response. All the funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The SUDx-bitec Corporation provided support in the form of travel expenses for YS, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the 'author contributions' section
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