Relationship of the glycan structure of glycoproteins to the desialylation process by rat liver endothelium

To investigate the variations in desialylation of glycoproteins by liver endothelium, we compared endothelial desialylation for 3 glycoproteins, human ceruloplasmin, human and rat transferrin. Radiolabeled glycoproteins were chased through purified rat liver endothelium and then fractionated by lectin affinity chromatography. Endothelium processed glycoproteins were fractionated by RCA120 chromatography into sialylated and desialylated components. The latter was then studied by Con A chromatography. Desialylation occurred only when the molecule contained at least a single triantennary chain of glycan. Desialylation was minimal in the case of human transferrin which contains mostly biantennary branching pattern. Thus, it appears that a single triantennary glycan chain is necessary and sufficient to trigger desialylation of glycoproteins by liver endothelium and this process is an all-or-none phenomenon.