Nanostructured interfaces and nanomaterials as a novel tool for glycan-protein
interactions studies
Bertók Tomáš1, Alena Holazova1, Lenka Lorencova1, Andras Hushegyi1, Ludmila Klukova1,
Dominika Pihikova1, Stefan Belicky1, Erika Dosekova1, Peter Kasak2, Jan Tkac1
1
Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava 845 38,
Slovakia
2
Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University Doha 2713, Qatar
E-mail: bertok.tomas@gmail.com
Glycans are complex saccharide moieties presented on many different biomolecules.
More than 70% of all proteins are glycosylated, and these glycans can form thousands of
different structures. These structures may also be associated to a disease progress. Thus, it is
possible to distinguish between healthy individuals and people suffering from a specific
disease, mostly cancer (PSA as a biomarker in this study) [1] or autoimmune diseases
(rheumatoid arthritis or system sclerosis, observing IgG N-glycosylation) [2].
Viral adhesion on cell surface is also highly dependent on the glycan epitopes [3].
Using nanoscale manipulation using so-called self-assembled monolayers (SAMs, for
covalent immobilization, density and orientation control and to resist non-specific surface
interactions) allowed us to prepare highly sensitive, reproducible and robust biosensors for
detection of glycoproteins and intact cells (using different lectins), and whole viral particles as
well (with different glycans immobilized). Moreover, using less specific lectins (compared to
highly selective antibodies), it is possible to distinguish between a potential pathogen and
a harmless virus, even if it is an uknown strain.
By using different nanomaterials (gold nanoparticles, graphene, etc.) we improved the
characteristics of our devices – electrochemical and impedimetric biosensors in this case
(even in array format to increase throughput). Electrochemical devices, mainly in combination
with different nanostructures, provide cheap, highly reliable and sensitive platform for
glycomic analyses, compared to standardly used methods (LC, CE or MS) [4].
[1] D. Pihikova, S. Belicky, P. Kasak, T. Bertok, and J. Tkac, "Sensitive detection of a
prostate specific antigen (PSA) using impedimetric assays with in-situ PSA´s glycan
analysis," Analyst, 2015.
[2] T. Bertok, A. Šedivá, J. Filip, M. Ilcikova, P. Kasak, D. Velic, et al., "Carboxybetaine
Modified Interface for Electrochemical Glycoprofiling of Antibodies Isolated from Human
Serum," Langmuir, vol. 31, pp. 7148-7157, 2015.
[3] A. Hushegyi, T. Bertok, P. Damborsky, J. Katrlik, and J. Tkac, "An ultrasensitive
impedimetric glycan biosensor with controlled glycan density for detection of lectins and
influenza hemagglutinins," Chemical Communications, vol. 51, pp. 7474-7477, 2015.
[4] E. Paleček, J. Tkáč, M. Bartošík, T. Bertók, V. Ostatná, and J. Paleček, "Electrochemistry
of Nonconjugated Proteins and Glycoproteins. Toward Sensors for Biomedicine and
Glycomics," Chemical Reviews, vol. 115, pp. 2045-2108, 2015.
The financial support from National Priorities Research Program (Qatar National Research
Fund, NPRP 6-381-1-078) European Research Council (311532) and FP7 (317420) is
acknowledged.