Glycan microarray technology provides a powerful high-throughput tool for studying the interactions between carbohydrates and macromolecules (e.g. lectins, antibodies, bacterium, virus), to investigate the role of carbohydrates in biological systems, and to identify anti-glycan antibodies as biomarkers for a variety of diseases.
Especially, Creative Biolabs proudly presents to our worldwide clients this anti-glycan antibody detection service using the glycan microarray technology. With this highly sensitive technology, we can offer the possibility to analyze hundreds of different glycan antigens to detect anti-glycan antibodies in serum collected from different species, as well as to perform profiling of binding specificities of antibodies.
Glycan microarrays, also called carbohydrate microarrays, are composed of diverse glycans/sugars that are bound to a solid phase in a spatially defined and miniaturized fashion. The design and construction of glycan microarrays include the preparation of glycan probes and immobilization of glycans on a solid surface. Glycans used for immobilization can be either chemically synthesized or isolated from natural sources. Different immobilization methods can be applied, including covalent and noncovalent attachment. In the testing of carbohydrate-protein interactions, the proteins (samples) are incubated on the microarrays to allow for binding to the exposed carbohydrates. Thereafter, different methods can be used to detect binding events based on specific requirements.
Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the various applications of glycan arrays.1, 2
Binding has primarily been detected using fluorescently labeled samples or secondary reagents. Fluorescence-based methods are the most widely used because of high sensitivity and availability of high-resolution fluorescence scanner. As a result, the fluorescence intensities indicate the amount of ligand bound to the chip. In the meanwhile, label-free methods of detection, such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), have also been used. SPR imaging offers real-time monitoring of binding events with the capacity to measure kinetics and thermodynamics of binding.
Glycan Microarrays have provided several advantages over conventional approaches, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for analysis of carbohydrate-protein interactions, including:
With our versatile and robust technology platforms and seasoned team of experts, Creative Biolabs is the right choice to deliver holistic and reliable antibody detection services from various samples. For more detailed information, please feel free to contact us or directly sent us an inquiry.
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