Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are heterogeneous, linear, highly charged, anionic polysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharides units. GAGs have some biological significance in cancer progression (invasion and metastasis) and cell signaling. In different cancer types, GAGs undergo specific structural changes. In the present study, in depth investigation of changes in sulfation pattern and composition of GAGs, heparan sulfate (HS)/heparin (HP), chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate and hyaluronan (HA) in normal renal tissue (NRT) and renal cell carcinoma tissue (RCCT) were evaluated. The statistical evaluation showed that alteration of the HS (HSNRT = 415.1 ± 115.3; HSRCCT = 277.5 ± 134.3), and CS (CSNRT = 35.3 ± 12.3; CSRCCT = 166.7 ± 108.8) amounts (in ng/mg dry tissue) were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Sulfation pattern in NRT and RCCT was evaluated to reveal disaccharide profiles. Statistical analyses showed that RCCT samples contain significantly increased amounts (in units of ng/mg dry tissue) of 4SCS (NRT = 25.7 ± 9.4; RCCT = 117.1 ± 73.9), SECS (NRT = 0.7 ± 0.3; RCCT = 4.7 ± 4.5), 6SCS (NRT = 6.1 ± 2.7; RCCT = 39.4 ± 34.7) and significantly decreased amounts (in units of ng/mg dry tissue) of NS6SHS (RCCT = 28.6 ± 6.5, RCCT = 10.2 ± 8.0), NS2SHS (RCCT = 44.2 ± 13.8; RCCT = 27.2 ± 15.0), NSHS (NRT = 68.4 ± 15.8; RCCT = 50.4 ± 21.2), 2S6SHS (NRT = 1.0 ± 0.4; RCCT = 0.4 ± 0.3), and 6SHS (NRT = 60.6 ± 17.5; RCCT = 24.9 ± 12.3). If these changes in GAGs are proven to be specific and sensitive, they may serve as potential biomarkers in RCC. Our findings are likely to help us to show the direction for further investigations to be able to bring different diagnostic and prognostic approaches in renal tumors.

A capillary zone electrophoresis-laser induced fluorescence detection (CZE-LIF) method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of disaccharides derived from heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate, hyaluronan and keratan sulfate. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were first depolymerized with the mixture of GAG lyases (heparinase I, II, III and chondroitinase ABC and chondroitinase AC II) and GAG endohydrolase (keratinase II) and the resulting disaccharides were derivatized by reductive amination with 2-aminoacridone. Nineteen fluorescently labeled disaccharides were separated using 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.3) under reversed polarity at 25 kV. Using these conditions, all the disaccharides examined were baseline-separated in less then 25 min. This CZE-LIF method gave good reproducibility both migration time (≤ 1.03% for intra-day and ≤ 4.4% for inter-day) and the peak area values (≤ 5.6% for intra- and ≤ 8.69% for inter-day). This CZE-LIF method was used for profiling and quantification of GAG derivative disaccharides in bovine cornea. The results shows that the current CZE-LIF method offers fast, simple, sensitive, reproducible determination of disaccharides derived from total GAGs in a single run.

Rapid and highly sensitive detection of the carbohydrate components of glycoconjugates is critical for advancing glycobiology. Fluorescence (or Forster) resonance energy transfer (FRET) is commonly used in detection of DNA, in protein structural biology, and in protease assays, but is less frequently applied to glycan analysis due to difficulties in inserting two fluorescent tags into small glycan structures. We report an ultrasensitive method for the detection and quantification of a chondroitin sulfate disaccharide based on FRET, involving a CdSe-ZnS core-shell nanocrystal quantum dot (QD)-streptavidin conjugate donor and a Cy5 acceptor. The disaccharide was doubly labeled with biotin and Cy5. QDs then served to concentrate the target disaccharide, enhancing the overall energy transfer efficiency, with unlinked QDs and Cy5-hydrazide producing nearly zero background signal in capillary electrophoresis using laser-induced fluorescence detection with two different band-pass filters. This method is generally applicable to the ultrasensitive analysis of acidic glycans and offers promise for the high-throughput disaccharide analysis of glycosaminoglycans.

The development and validation of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the determination of metformin in human plasma Ebru Uçaktürk * A new, simple, specific gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method (GC-MS) was developed for the determination of metformin in human plasma. A number of derivatization approaches (silylation, acylation and methylation) were tested to derivatize metformin prior to GC-MS analysis. Derivatization of metformin was achieved by using N-methyl bis(trifluoroacetamide) (MBTFA). Several parameters such as reaction temperature and time were optimized, which affected the yield of the derivatization reaction. A trifluoroacetyl derivative of metformin was identified and quantified in selected ion monitoring mode (mass-to-charge ratio (m/z): 303). The method was fully validated using parameters such as specificity, carryover, linearity, limits of detection and quantification, precision, accuracy, stability, recovery, robustness and ruggedness. Linearity was demonstrated over the concentration range of 100-3000 ng mL À1 with a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) above 0.996. The limits of quantification and detection were found to be 100 and 40 ng mL À1 , respectively. Intra-and inter-day accuracy and precision were within the acceptable limits (<15% for concentration points in the calibration range; <20% for the limit of quantitation). The developed method was successfully applied for the identification and quantification of metformin in the plasma of diabetic patients.