7th HUPO World Congress: the human disease glycomics/proteomics initiative (HGPI) session 17 August 2008, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The Human Disease Glycomics/Proteomics Initiative (HGPI) Session was held on August 17, 2008, at the HUPO World Congress in Amsterdam. Reports were made on the progress of the first and second analytical pilot studies to profile N- and O-linked glycan structures of standard glycoproteins utilizing laboratories from around the world. In addition, recent advances in glycan structural analyses were presented, including the use of O-linked glycan libraries of standards, use of negative mode nano-LC-MS for O-linked glycan analysis, and identification of aberrant O-glycosylation of IgA1 as a cause of IgA nephropathy. A report was made of a newly discovered lectin, malectin, which appears to function in the folding/quality control of glycoproteins with N-linked glycans and may regulate several human disorders whose etiology involves protein quality control in the ER. The major glycan ligand for malectin was identified using a novel printed glycan microarray. Advances in the analysis of the genes that are associated with glycan expression and recognition--the glycotranscriptome--were described, as well as technologies to determine the relative quantitation of N- and O-linked glycans from as few as 2 x 10(6) cells. These technologies are being applied to identify potential biomarkers of stem and cancer cells.