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The Role of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Diseases
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The Role of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Diseases

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 6072

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Darko Kero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate Study of Dental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Split, Šoltanska 2, HR-21000 Split, Croatia
Interests: glycosaminoglycans; syndecans; ECM; periodontitis; immunofluorescence; statistical modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Glycosaminoglycans are one of the most important components of the extracellular matrix. As modulators of cell signaling, glycosaminoglycans are involved in the regulation of several processes that are important for the development and homeostasis of bone tissues, including proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration of cells. The role of glycosaminoglycans in the above processes depends on their biochemical structure and the way these molecules are incorporated into the extracellular matrix as free polysaccharide chains or covalently bound in complexes with corresponding protein carriers (proteoglycans, glycoproteins). Accordingly, the structure and overall expression of glycosaminoglycans are tissue-specific and subject to dynamic changes during pathological events in the tissue (inflammation, infection, healing, regeneration). Exploiting different aspects of glycosaminoglycan biology holds great promise for the treatment of various human diseases.

We are pleased to publish original scientific papers or reviews that address the role of glycosaminoglycans, enzymes for glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis, modification, and degradation, and cell surface receptors for glycosaminoglycans in the pathogenesis of human diseases including inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases and cancer. Scientific papers dealing with the development of novel synthetic derivatives or therapeutics based on glycosaminoglycans and related factors for the treatment of experimental models (cell cultures, animal preparations, humans) with biomolecular experiments are also welcome. Purely clinical studies on the topic will not be suitable for this Special Issue.

The Article Processing Charge for publication in this open access journal is CHF 2900 (Swiss Francs) but the authors of papers submitted by the deadline will enjoy a favorable discount.

I cordially invite you to submit a paper to this Special Issue titled: “The Role of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Diseases”. Please, feel free to forward this invitation to your team members or colleagues who may also be interested in the topic.

Dr. Darko Kero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • glycosaminoglycans
  • inflammation
  • infectious disease
  • cancer

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 10151 KiB  
Article
Vascular Heparan Sulfate and Amyloid-β in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients
by Ilayda Ozsan McMillan, Marla Gearing and Lianchun Wang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(7), 3964; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25073964 - 2 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1322
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) within the cerebral parenchyma and vasculature, which is known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). This study utilized confocal imaging to investigate heparan sulfate (HS) expression within [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid-β peptides (Aβ) within the cerebral parenchyma and vasculature, which is known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). This study utilized confocal imaging to investigate heparan sulfate (HS) expression within the cerebrovasculature and its associations with Aβ, gender, and ApoE4 genotype in AD. Our investigation revealed elevated levels of HS in the cerebrovasculature of AD patients with severe CAA. Additionally, these patients exhibited higher HS colocalization with Aβ in the cerebrovasculature, including both endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cell compartments. Intriguingly, a reversal in the polarized expression of HS within the cerebrovasculature was detected in AD patients with severe CAA. Furthermore, male patients exhibited lower levels of both parenchymal and cerebrovascular HS. Additionally, ApoE4 carriers displayed heightened cerebrovascular Aβ expression and a tendency of elevated cerebrovascular HS levels in AD patients with severe CAA. Overall, these findings reveal potential intricate interplay between HS, Aβ, ApoE, and vascular pathology in AD, thereby underscoring the potential roles of cerebrovascular HS in CAA development and AD pathology. Further study of the underlying mechanisms may present novel therapeutic avenues for AD treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Diseases)
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Review

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41 pages, 2245 KiB  
Review
The Glycosaminoglycan Side Chains and Modular Core Proteins of Heparan Sulphate Proteoglycans and the Varied Ways They Provide Tissue Protection by Regulating Physiological Processes and Cellular Behaviour
by Brooke L. Farrugia and James Melrose
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(18), 14101; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241814101 - 14 Sep 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3535
Abstract
This review examines the roles of HS–proteoglycans (HS–PGs) in general, and, in particular, perlecan and syndecan as representative examples and their interactive ligands, which regulate physiological processes and cellular behavior in health and disease. HS–PGs are essential for the functional properties of tissues [...] Read more.
This review examines the roles of HS–proteoglycans (HS–PGs) in general, and, in particular, perlecan and syndecan as representative examples and their interactive ligands, which regulate physiological processes and cellular behavior in health and disease. HS–PGs are essential for the functional properties of tissues both in development and in the extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling that occurs in response to trauma or disease. HS–PGs interact with a biodiverse range of chemokines, chemokine receptors, protease inhibitors, and growth factors in immune regulation, inflammation, ECM stabilization, and tissue protection. Some cell regulatory proteoglycan receptors are dually modified hybrid HS/CS proteoglycans (betaglycan, CD47). Neurexins provide synaptic stabilization, plasticity, and specificity of interaction, promoting neurotransduction, neurogenesis, and differentiation. Ternary complexes of glypican-1 and Robbo–Slit neuroregulatory proteins direct axonogenesis and neural network formation. Specific neurexin–neuroligin complexes stabilize synaptic interactions and neural activity. Disruption in these interactions leads to neurological deficits in disorders of functional cognitive decline. Interactions with HS–PGs also promote or inhibit tumor development. Thus, HS–PGs have complex and diverse regulatory roles in the physiological processes that regulate cellular behavior and the functional properties of normal and pathological tissues. Specialized HS–PGs, such as the neurexins, pikachurin, and Eyes-shut, provide synaptic stabilization and specificity of neural transduction and also stabilize the axenome primary cilium of phototoreceptors and ribbon synapse interactions with bipolar neurons of retinal neural networks, which are essential in ocular vision. Pikachurin and Eyes–Shut interactions with an α-dystroglycan stabilize the photoreceptor synapse. Novel regulatory roles for HS–PGs controlling cell behavior and tissue function are expected to continue to be uncovered in this fascinating class of proteoglycan. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Glycosaminoglycans in Human Diseases)
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