Roles of GlcNAc-6-O-sulfotransferases in lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues

Recent studies using sulfotransferase-deficient mice have revealed various physiological functions of sulfated glycans. Studies using gene-targeted mice deficient in both N-acetylglucosamine-6-O-sulfotransferase (GlcNAc6ST)-1 and GlcNAc6ST-2 showed that these sulfotransferases play critical roles in lymphocyte homing. Recent studies indicated that GlcNAc6ST-2 is expressed not only in lymph node high endothelial venules but also in the colonic epithelial cells in mice, and that this sulfotransferase plays a critical role in GlcNAc-6-O-sulfation of the colonic-mucins, as revealed by liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry of the colonic-mucin O-glycans from wild-type (WT) and GlcNAc6ST-2-deficient mice. After induction of colitis by dextran sulfate sodium, significantly more leukocyte infiltration was observed in the colon of GlcNAc6ST-2-deficient mice than in that of WT mice. These studies demonstrate that GlcNAc-6-O-sulfotransferases play important roles not only in lymphoid tissues but also in nonlymphoid tissues. This chapter describes experimental procedures for assessing the functions of GlcNAc-6-O-sulfotransferases using gene-targeted mice.