Primary-structure determination of fourteen neutral oligosaccharides derived from bronchial-mucus glycoproteins of patients suffering from cystic fibrosis, employing 500-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy.

The structure of carbohydrate units of bronchial-mucus glycoproteins obtained from cystic fibrosis patients was investigated by 500-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy and methylation analysis. To that purpose, the mucin was subjected to alkaline borohydride degradation. Neutral oligosaccharide-alditols, ranging in size from disaccharides to pentasaccharides, were isolated. Eight compounds could be purified to homogeneity; furthermore, three fractions were obtained consisting mainly of two components. For all 14 compounds the primary structure could be elucidated. 500-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy was found to be effective in detecting heterogeneity and to be invaluable for the determination of structures in mixtures of oligosaccharide-alditols. The structures can be divided into two groups depending on the core disaccharide. One group contains Gal(beta 1 leads to 3)GalNAc-ol as common structural element, the other GlcNAc(beta 1 leads to 3)GalNAc-ol. Both disaccharides were identified as such; the other compounds can be conceived as extensions thereof. The most complex representatives of the two groups are: (formula; see text) The italicized structural elements, comprising the SSEA-1 determinant and the type-1 blood-group-H determinant, are novel sequences in oligosaccharide chains of mucin-type glycoproteins.