Glycoproteins: Their Biochemistry, Biology and Role in Human Disease

Abstract

Properties of GlycoproteinsWith the background on the structure and metabolism of the carbohydrate-containing proteins presented in the first part of this review one can now consider the properties, both chemical and biologic, of some specific groups of glycoproteins.Plasma GlycoproteinsAll the proteins isolated from plasma with the exception of albumin have been shown to contain covalently linked carbohydrate. The plasma glycoproteins were among the first to become the subjects of structural investigations and information about the carbohydrate units of a good number of these has already been obtained, including fetuin,⁷ the α₁-acid glycoprotein,⁸ α2-macroglobulin,¹⁰ transferrin,¹¹ ceruloplasmin, . . .