. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Aug 28.

Published in final edited form as: Handb Exp Pharmacol. 2012;(207):159–176. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-23056-1_8

Table 2.

Physiological and pathophysiological role of heparin and heparan sulfate

Physiology/pathology	Binding proteins	Characteristics of heparin/HS binding
Anticoagulation	Antithrombin Thrombin	Unique 5-mer sequence; requires 3-O-sulfonation Trisulfated disaccharide repeat
Cell proliferation and metastasis	FGF-2 FGF-1 Selectins	4-mer to 6-mer; IdoA2S-GlcNS 4-mer to 6-mer; IdoA2S-GlcNS6S ≥4-mer; requires highly sulfated sequences, with presence of free amine residues
Inflammation	IL-8 SDF1α	18-mer to 20-mer; requires alternating domains of high sulfation-low sulfation-high sulfation 12-mer to 14-mer; requires highly sulfated domains
Viral infectivity	HSV gD HIV gp120 Dengue virus envelope protein	8-mer; requires a unique 3-O-sulfated, glucosamine at the reducing end 10-mer; highly sulfated sequences 10-mer; highly sulfated sequences
Development	HB-GAM	16-mer to 18-mer; requires highly sulfated domains