Inflamatory Bowel Diseases in the era of Glycomics

LUCIANO G. MOROSI; ANABELA CUTINE; MARTA A. TOSCANO; GABRIEL A. RABINOVICH; KARINA V. MARIÑO

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Simposio; First Argentinian Symposium of Glycobiology "GlycoAR 2014"; 2014

Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Fundación Instituto Leloir, Instituto de Fisiología Biología Molecular y Neurociencias

Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory intestinal diseases, often collectively referred as ?inflammatory bowel diseases? (IBD); in spite of their high incidence, characterization of the molecular pathways involved in their onset and development is far from complete. In thepostgenomic era, the study of the glycome has facilitated the association of specific glycan structures with the development and course of various inflammatory conditions. Glycans aredistinctively complex, but this feature is precisely what makes them compact units for delivery of specific and essential information. As a result, the glycoanalytics field is constantly faced with new challenges where glycan structural characterization requires a range of technologies capable ofdescribing all their different features. With an interdisciplinary approach to IBD, we are giving our first steps towards investigating how specific glycans (generated and/or modified during the transition from healthy to inflamed mucosa) can mediate cellular processes relevant to immune tolerance and inflammation. Working in three different experimental models of colitis and also with patient samples, we have particular interest in glycan interactions with Galectin-1, a highlyconserved β-galactoside-binding lectin in the control of intestinal inflammation through regulation of the mucosal immune system.