Practical Antibody Recruiting by Metabolic Labeling with Caged Glycans

We propose a de novo glycan display approach that combines metabolic labeling and a glycan-caging strategy as a facile editing method for cell-surface glycans. This method enables the introduction of antigen glycans onto cancer cells to induce immune responses through antibody recruiting. The caging strategy prevents the capture of alpha-rhamnose (an antigen glycan) by endogenous antibodies during the introduction of the glycan to the targeted cell surface, and subsequent uncaging successfully induces immune responses. Therefore, this study proposes a practical method for editing the cell-surface glycocalyx under promiscuous conditions, such as those in vivo, which paves the way for the development of glycan function analysis and regulation.

Automated summary

We propose a new glycan display approach using metabolic labeling and a glycan-caging strategy as an easy editing method for cell-surface glycans. This method allows the introduction of antigen glycans onto cancer cells to induce immune responses via antibody recruiting. The caging strategy prevents the capture of alpha-rhamnose (an antigen glycan) by endogenous antibodies during glycan introduction, and subsequent uncaging successfully induces immune responses. Therefore, this study presents a practical method for editing cell-surface glycocalyx under promiscuous conditions, paving the way for glycan function analysis and regulation development.