Human Blood Plasma Glycoproteomics
Motivation
With its complexity and huge dynamic range (e.g. regarding the number of glycoproteins and their individual concentrations) human blood plasma is one of the most challenging biological matrices in bioanalytics. On the other hand, however, human blood plasma is the most informative source within the human body from a medical point of view since almost all cells of the human body interact directly or indirectly with it. In particular, many human diseases are associated with glycoproteins of the human blood plasma. The study of such glycoproteins is not only important to understand certain aspects of the disease itself but also valuable for biomarker discovery. Furthermore, many glycoproteins of the human blood plasma are used as therapeutics. Still, there are many glycoproteins in the human blood plasma that are yet not fully characterized in terms of their glycosylation status (N- and O-glycosylation).
Aim of the project
This project was initiated to obtain further insights into the N- and O-glycosylation of not characterized or not fully characterized glycoproteins of the human blood plasma. To this end an explorative glycoproteomics approach is used to analyze glycoproteins on the glycopeptide level. This type of analysis allows deducing glycan composition, peptide identity, as well as occupied glycosylation sites.
