Degradation of Heparan Sulfate with Heparin Lyases

Abstract

Glycosaminoglycan (GAG), heparan sulfate (HS), and heparin are a polydisperse mixture of linear polysaccharides composed of glucosamine residues 1→ 4 linked to uronic acid residues. The major repeating unit in heparin is → 4)-α-D-N-sulfoglucosamine-6-sulfate (1? 4)-α-L-iduronic acid-2-sulfate (1?, corresponds to 75-90% of its sequence (1) (see Fig. 1A), whereas heparan sulfate consists of 50-75% ? 4)α-D-N-acetylglucosamine (1? 4)-β-glucuronic acid (1? and smaller amounts of → 4)-α-D-N-acetylglucosamine-6-sulfate (1? 4)-β-D-glucuronic acid (1? and ? 4)α-D-N-sulfoglucosamine (1? 4)-β-D-glucuronic acid (1? (see Fig. 1B). Heparin, which contains approx 2.7 sulfate groups per disaccharide unit, is more highly sulfated than HS, which contains less than one sulfate per disaccharide unit.