Vascular endothelia are covered with a dense glycocalix that is heavily sialylated. Sialylation of vascular glycoconjugates is involved in the regulation of cell–cell interactions, be it among endothelial cells at cell junctions or between endothelial and blood-borne cells. It also plays important roles in modulating the binding of soluble ligands and the signaling by vascular receptors. Here, we provide an overview over the sialylation-function relationships of glycoproteins expressed in the blood and lymphatic vasculature. We first describe cellular interactions in which sialic acid contributes in a stereospecific manner to glycan epitopes recognized by glycan-binding proteins. Our major focus is however on the rarely discussed examples of vascular glycoproteins whose biological functions are modulated by sialylation through other mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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唾液酸对内皮糖蛋白生物学功能的多种作用。


血管内皮覆盖有高度唾液酸化的致密糖被。血管糖复合物的唾液酸化参与细胞与细胞相互作用的调节，无论是细胞连接处的内皮细胞之间还是内皮细胞和血源性细胞之间。它还在调节可溶性配体的结合和血管受体的信号传导方面发挥着重要作用。在这里，我们概述了血液和淋巴管系统中表达的糖蛋白的唾液酸化功能关系。我们首先描述了细胞相互作用，其中唾液酸以立体特异性方式贡献于聚糖结合蛋白识别的聚糖表位。然而，我们的主要关注点是很少讨论的血管糖蛋白的例子，其生物功能通过其他机制通过唾液酸化来调节。