[Contribution and application of glycoscience to clinical chemistry]

Glycoconjugates play pivotal and crucial roles in various biological processes, and it is thus believed that abnormal structural changes in the sugar chains of glycoconjugates are closely associated with the pathophysiology and clinical implications of many diseases. Many studies have identified and characterized the genes for glycosyltransferases and other related enzymes that are involved in the biosynthesis of sugar chains. Functional analyses of sugar chains using genetically engineered cells and organisms have clarified the biochemical bases for both the assembly and disease-related structural alteration of sugar chains. The findings obtained to date have been successfully applied to improve the diagnostic value of oligosaccharide biomarkers for diseases and also contributed to the establishment and/or development of therapeutic glycoproteins such as antibody-based drugs and some biofactors. In this article, the contribution and application of glycoscience to medicine, particularly clinical chemistry, will be described.