Glycoproteins

Glycoproteins are proteins which have attached to them short chains of sugars called glycans. They are found in all organisms and are important components of cell receptors, cell-cell interactions and structural components. They play a large role in the immune system, serving as antigen-recognition sites and cell-surface signalling receptors. On a molecular level, glycoproteins are important for proper folding, solubility and stability of proteins, increasing their half-lives in serum. Additionally, they can influence the affinity and specificity of proteins for certain substrates, making them key components in many metabolic pathways. In medicine, glycoproteins are widely used in diagnosis and therapy, and are being studied in the context of stem cells, cancer and other diseases.