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Semin Thromb Hemost 2021; 47(03): 238-239
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1724119
Preface

Hemostatic and Nonhemostatic Effects of Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans

Yona Nadir
1   Thrombosis and Hemostasis Unit, Rambam Health Care Campus, The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel
,
Ton Lisman
2   Department of Surgery, Surgical Research Laboratory, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are composed of negatively charged heparan sulfate (HS) chains linked to a core protein. HS chains have an ancient evolutionary history, and are highly conserved. Virtually every cell type in metazoan (multicellular animals) organisms produces HS. The chains are synthesized by a highly ordered sequence of enzymatic events in the Golgi apparatus and are present on cell surface membranes, membranes of intracellular organelles, basement membranes, and in the extracellular matrix. These complex polysaccharides serve as low-affinity receptors to numerous proteins that contain a heparin-binding domain. Modulation of the HS chains may potentially affect cell surface interactions with numerous molecules, cells, and microparticles.[1] As HSPGs are important gatekeepers at the cell surface, they are involved in ample biological processes including hemostasis. In the present issue of Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, we introduce several fields where a significant role of HSPGs has been established, making them an important mechanism linking hemostasis, inflammation, angiogenesis, and cancer. Research in the field of HS chains is lagging behind because of the lack of advanced laboratory assays. While the protein part in the HSPGs complex (e.g., syndecan) can be easily evaluated using an antibody interacting with the protein, commercially available assays to assess the sugar chains of HS are sparse.



Publication History

Article published online:
01 April 2021

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