Sialic acid and sialyl-lactose glyco-conjugates: design, synthesis and binding assays to lectins and swine influenza H1N1 virus.

The terminal parts of the influenza hemagglutinin (HA) receptors α2,6- and α2,3-sialyllactoses were conjugated to an artificial carrier, named sequential oligopeptide carrier (SOC(4) ), to formulate human and avian receptor mimics, respectively. SOC(4) , formed by the tripeptide unit Lys-Aib-Gly, adopts a rigid helicoids-type conformation, which enables the conjugation of biomolecules to the Lys-N(ε) H(2) groups. By doing so, it preserves their initial conformations and functionalities of the epitopes. We report that SOC(4) -glyco-conjugate bearing two copies of the α2,6-sialyllactose is specifically recognized by the biotinylated Sambucus nigra (elderberry) bark lectin, which binds preferentially to sialic acid in an α2,6-linkage. SOC(4) -glyco-conjugate bearing two copies of the α2,3-sialyllactose was not recognized by the biotinylated Maackia amurensis lectin, despite its well-known α2,3-sialyl bond specificity. However, preliminary immune blot assays showed that H1N1 virus binds to both the SOC(4) -glyco-conjugates immobilized onto nitrocellulose membrane. It is concluded that Ac-SOC(4) [(Ac)(2) ,(3'SL-Aoa)(2) ]-NH(2) 5 and Ac-SOC(4) [(Ac)(2) ,(6'SL-Aoa)(2) ]-NH(2) 6 mimic the HA receptors. These findings could be useful for easy screening of binding and inhibition assays of virus-receptor interactions.