Abstract
Although a plethora of players has already been revealed to be engaged in the haemostatic
system, a fundamental consideration of the molecular nature of information coding
can give further explorations of the mechanisms of blood clotting, platelet functionality
and vascular trafficking direction. By any measures, looking at ranges of occurrence
and of potential for structural versatility, at strategic positioning to influence
protein and cell sociology as well as at dynamics of processing and restructuring
for phenotypic variability, using sugars as an alphabet of life for generating the
glycan part of glycoconjugates is a success story. The handiwork by the complex system
for glycan biosynthesis renders biochemical messages of exceptionally high coding
capacity available. They are read and translated into cellular effects by receptors
termed lectins. The different levels of regulation on both sides, that is, glycan
and lectin, establish an intriguingly fine-tuned capacity for functional pairing.
The emerging insights into the highly branched routes of glycosylation, into lectin
structures up to complete characterization in solution and the shape of lectin networks,
first obtained for the three selectins, now extended to considering many other C-type
lectins, galectins and siglecs, as well as into intra- and inter-family cross-talk
and cooperations are sure to push boundaries in our understanding of the molecular
basis of haemostasis.
Keywords
C-type lectin - galectin - mucin - selectin - siglec - von Willebrand factor
