Heparin-like properties of sulfated alginates with defined sequences and sulfation degrees

Sulfated glycosaminoglycans have a vast range of protein interactions relevant to the development of new biomaterials and pharmaceuticals, but their characterization and application is complicated mainly due to a high structural variability and the relative difficulty to isolate large quantities of structurally homogeneous samples. Functional and versatile analogues of heparin/heparan sulfate can potentially be created from sulfated alginates, which offer structure customizability through targeted enzymatic epimerization and precise tuning of the sulfation degree. Alginates are linear polysaccharides consisting of β-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-L-guluronic acid (G), derived from brown algae and certain bacteria. The M/G ratio and distribution of blocks are critical parameters for the physical properties of alginates and can be modified in vitro using mannuronic-C5-epimerases to introduce sequence patterns not found in nature. Alginates with homogeneous sequences (poly-M, poly-MG, and poly-G) and similar molecular weights were chemically sulfated and structurally characterized by the use of NMR and elemental analysis. These sulfated alginates were shown to bind and displace HGF from the surface of myeloma cells in a manner similar to heparin. We observed dependence on the sulfation degree (DS) as well as variation in efficacy based on the alginate monosaccharide sequence, relating to relative flexibility and charge density in the polysaccharide chains. Co-incubation with human plasma showed complement compatibility of the alginates and lowering of soluble terminal complement complex levels by sulfated alginates. The sulfated polyalternating (poly-MG) alginate proved to be the most reproducible in terms of precise sulfation degrees and showed the greatest relative degree of complement inhibition and HGF interaction, maintaining high activity at low DS values.