The Human Blood N-Glycome: Unraveling Disease Glycosylation Patterns

Most of the proteins in the circulation are N-glycosylated, shaping together the total blood N-glycome (TBNG). Glycosylation is known to affect protein function, stability, and clearance. The TBNG is influenced by genetic, environmental, and metabolic factors, in part epigenetically imprinted, and responds to a variety of bioactive signals including cytokines and hormones. Accordingly, physiological and pathological events are reflected in distinct TBNG signatures. Here, we assess the specificity of the emerging disease-associated TBNG signatures with respect to a number of key glycosylation motifs including antennarity, linkage-specific sialylation, fucosylation, as well as expression of complex, hybrid-type and oligomannosidic N-glycans, and show perplexing complexity of the glycomic dimension of the studied diseases. Perspectives are given regarding the protein- and site-specific analysis of N-glycosylation, and the dissection of underlying regulatory layers and functional roles of blood protein N-glycosylation.