J.B. Lowe, L.M. Stoolman, R.P. Nair, R.D. Larsen, et al., "ELAM-1-dependent cell adhesion to vascular endothelium determined by a transfected human fucosyltransferase cDNA," Cell, 63:475-84, 1990.
John Lowe (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor): "The surfaces of mammalian cells are covered with structurally diverse oligosaccharide molecules. Functional correlates for this structural diversity have been difficult to precisely define, and such correlates are known in only a few instances.
"The data in this paper demonstrated that specific sialylated, fucosylated oligosaccharides, represented by the sialyl Lewis x tetrasaccharide molecule, function to mediate cell adhesion to the lectin-like cell adhesion molecule ELAM-1.
Since inflammatory processes involving neutrophils and monocytes depend upon the ability of these cells to adhere to ELAM-1, the results of the study further suggested that oligosaccharide determinants containing the sialyl Lewis x moiety might function to prevent this interaction and thus act as anti-inflammatory molecules.
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