FIGURE 1.

Structures of the selected glycan motifs. The Tn, T or core 1 and core 3 motifs correspond to short O-glycans in alpha linkage to either serine or threonine of the peptide chain. The Le^c (Lewis c), GlcNAcLac and αGal epitopes can be present either on N– and O–linked glycans of glycoproteins, or on glycolipids, whilst the Gb3 trisaccharide (globotrihexosyl), also called Pk antigen, is only known on glycosphingolipids. The GlcNAcLac, Gb3 and αGal motifs contain either a lactose or an N-acetyllactosamine inner core (Lac and LacNAc, respectively, in gray). Yellow squares = GalNAc (N-acetylgalactosamine), yellow circles = Gal (galactose), blue squares = GlcNAc (N-acetylglucosamine), blue circles = Glc (glucose). Linkages are indicated as α or β anomers on either position 3 or 4 of the subjacent monosaccharide unit.