•A fluorescence imaging strategy was developed for visualizing protein-specific glycosylation.•The strategy can image the glycosylated population of proteins of interest in cells.•The strategy can be applied to image different types of glycosylation on proteins.•The strategy is useful for studying dimerization of endogenous membrane receptor proteins in cells.Glycosylation is an important posttranslational modification, which regulates a number of critical biological processes including cell-cell recognition, signal transduction and disease progression. Probing the glycosylation status on a specific protein of interest enables an in-depth understanding of the role of glycosylation on protein structure and function. However, methods for monitoring protein-specific glycosylation are largely lacking. Here we describe a highly sensitive fluorescence imaging strategy to visualize the protein-specific glycosylation by combining glycan metabolic tagging and in situ proximity ligation (termed GPLA). We demonstrate the visualization of sialylation, fucosylation and GalNAcylation on several important membrane proteins. Notably, the high spatial resolution of this method allows subcellular localization of the glycosylated fraction of the proteins. We further show that our strategy can be applied to image the dimerization of endogenous epidermal growth factor receptor. Thus, our study provides a unique tool to monitor the protein-specific glycosylation in a dynamic cellular context.Download high-res image (160KB)Download full-size image

•Cell surface glycans are chemically remodeled with rhamnose epitopes.•Cell surface remodeled with rhamnose activates complement-mediated cytotoxicity.•Cell surface glycan engineering can potentially modulate immune response.Recruitment of human endogenous antibodies to target and eliminate tumor cells is a promising therapeutic strategy in the biomedical field. Current antibody-recruiting molecules are typically bi-functional agents that utilize cell-surface receptor binding property for targeting. This approach has intrinsic limitations due to the heterogeneity of tumor cells and the limited number of receptors on the cell surface. Here we report a targeting strategy based on remodeling of cell surface glycans through metabolic engineering and bioorthogonal chemical ligation. In vitro cultured tumor cells and in vivo xenograft tumors were actively remodeled with rhamnose carbohydrate epitopes, which were capable of recruiting endogenous anti-rhamnose antibodies and activating complement-mediated cell cytotoxicity. This study highlights the therapeutic potential for modulating endogenous immune response through cell-surface glycan engineering.Download high-res image (133KB)Download full-size image

Recruitment of antibodies in human immune systems for targeted destruction of tumor cells has emerged as an exciting area of research due to its low occurrence of side effects, high efficacy, and high specificity. The presence of large amounts of anticarbohydrate natural antibodies in human sera has prompted research efforts to utilize carbohydrate epitopes for immune recruitment. Here, we have developed a general strategy for specific targeted destruction of tumor cells based on rhamnose-functionalized liposomes. Tumor cells artificially decorated with rhamnose epitopes were subjected to complement-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro and showed delayed tumor growth in vivo. This study highlights the therapeutic potential for activation of endogenous immune response through cell-surface glycan engineering.

The disaccharide galactose-β1,3-N-acetylgalactosamine (Galβ1,3-GalNAc) attached to serine and/or threonine residues of proteins, also known as the Thomsen–Friedenreich (TF) antigen, is highly expressed in various types of human carcinomas. It has been shown to contribute to tumor development, progression, and metastasis. However, current methods have limited power in detecting and imaging TF antigens among a variety of complex cell-surface glycans. Here we describe a tandem enzymatic strategy to detect and label TF antigen disaccharide with high sensitivity and selectivity. We demonstrate that this strategy enables detection of TF antigens on proteins, profiling and identification of unknown TF antigen-modified glycoproteins, and simultaneous labeling of multiple forms of complex glycan motifs on the same cell. This approach expands the capability of glycan labeling to probe the functional role of TF antigens in cancer biology.

Cancer cells exhibit increased uptake of glucose and glutamine, and rewire the metabolic flux toward anabolic pathways important for cell growth and proliferation. Understanding how this altered metabolism is regulated has recently emerged as an intense research focus in cancer biology. O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a reversible posttranslational modification of serine and/or threonine residues of nuclear and cytosolic proteins. O-GlcNAcylation has been identified in numerous proteins that are involved in many important cellular functions, including transcription, translation, signal transduction, and stress responses. More recently, increasing evidence indicates that O-GlcNAcylation plays important roles in regulating cancer metabolic reprogramming by modifying key transcription factors, metabolic enzymes and major oncogenic signaling pathways. Thus, O-GlcNAcylation emerges as a novel regulatory mechanism linking altered metabolism to cancer pathogenesis.