Characterization of Cell Surface Glycan Profiles in Human and Mouse Corneas Using Lectin Microarrays

The advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has facilitated the profiling of glycosylation genes at a single-cell level in complex biological systems, but the significance of these gene signatures to the composition of the glycocalyx remains ambiguous. Here, we used lectin microarrays to characterize the composition of cell surface glycans in human and mouse corneas and determine its relationship to single-cell transcriptomic data. Our results identify a series of cell surface glycan signatures that are unique to the different cell types of the human cornea and that correlate, to a certain extent, with the transcriptional expression of glycosylation genes. These include pathways involved in the biosynthesis of O-glycans in epithelial cells and core fucose on stromal and endothelial cell surfaces. Moreover, we show that human and mouse corneas display some structural differences in terms of cell surface glycan composition. These results could provide insights into the specialized function of individual cell types in the cornea and foster the identification of novel cornea-specific biomarkers.