Sialobiology
and Other Novel Forms of Glycosylation
Edited by Y.
Inoue, Y.C.Lee and F.A.Troy II
ISBN4-907773-00-5,
257*210mm, 308pp (including 8 color pages), hard cover, index,
Price: 12,000 JPYen
Among the sugar residues in glycoconjugates, sialic acid is perhaps
the only one that is used alone for thematic meetings. Since its discovery
in animal cells some 60 years ago, this unique sugar still occupies
a prominent position in glycoscience. More than 40 naturally occurring
derivatives of the parent sialic acid, neuraminic acid, have now been
described. And, as this monograph verifies, there is as much diversity
in the areas of sialic acid research as there are in the different
sialic acid structures. This monograph summarizes much of the contemporary
research in sialobiology, studies that seek to understand the occurrence,
structure, synthesis, and function of the different mono- and polysialylated
glycotopes that are expressed in species that transcend the evolutionary
scale from man to bacteria. Characterization of the different sialic
acid binding proteins, including the mono- and polysialyltransferases,
sialidases and siglec-like lectins are also at the forefront of studies
to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of sialylation, sialidase catalysis
and the role that sialic acid binding molecules play in health and
disease. The biological significance and therapeutic potential of
these proteins and their cognate sialylated structures are already
beginning to provide unexpected but useful model systems for evaluating
new treatments and chemopreventive drugs.
(from
PREFACE)
