Lectinomics I. Relevance of exogenous plant lectins in biomedical diagnostics

• Published in: Biológia Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Authors: Mislovičová, Danica, Gemeiner, Peter, Kozarova, Anna, Kožár, Tibor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Versita 01.02.2009; SP Versita
• Subjects: alteration of glycosylation; Antibodies; Biomedical and Life Sciences; biomedical application; Cell Biology; diagnostic techniques; diagnostic tool; Glycosylation; Lectins; Life Sciences; microarray technology; Microbiology; plant lectins; Plant Sciences; Review; Reviews; saccharide specificity; screening; tissues; Zoology; alteration of glycosylation; saccharide specificity; plant lectins; biomedical application; diagnostic tool
• ISSN: 1336-9563; 0006-3088; 1336-9563
• DOI: 10.2478/s11756-009-0029-3

This review focuses on utilization of plant lectins as medical diagnostic reagents and tools. The lectin-related diagnostic is aimed at detection of several diseases connected to alteration of the glycosylation profiles of cells and at identification of microbial and viral agents in clinical microbiology. Certain lectins, proposed for or used as diagnostic tools could even recognize those cellular determinants, which are not detected by available antibodies. Broad information is presented on the lectinomics field, illustrating that lectin diagnostics might become practical alternative to antibody-based diagnostic products. In addition, the rising trend of lectin utilization in biomedical diagnostics might initiate a development of innovative methods based on better analytical technologies. Lectin microarray, a rapid and simple methodology, can be viewed as an example for such initiative. This technology could provide simple and efficient screening tools for analysis of glycosylation patterns in biological samples (cellular extracts, tissues and the whole cells), allowing thus personalized detection of changes associated with carbohydrate-related diseases.