A chemoenzymatic strategy is introduced whereby a glycan backbone is assembled enzymatically to give a core oligosaccharide that is subjected to chemical manipulations to install terminal epitopes. A library of oligosaccharides containing the human natural killer-1 epitope was synthesized, enabling evaluation of the binding specificities of serum antibodies of patients with anti-myelin-associated glycoprotein neuropathy.
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This is a summary of: Bunyatov, M. et al. Chemoenzymatic synthesis of human natural killer-1-containing glycans and application as serum antibodies probes. Nat. Synth. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00394-4 (2023).
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Synthetic glycans provide insight into the binding properties of toxic serum antibodies. Nat. Synth 3, 15–16 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00395-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00395-3