Glycoprotein profiling of stem cells using lectin microarray based on surface plasmon resonance imaging

Lectin microarrays have emerged as a novel platform for glycan analysis during recent years. Here, we have combined surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) with the lectin microarray for rapid and label-free profiling of stem cells. In this direction, 40 lectins from seven different glyco-binding motifs and three different cell lines-mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), mouse-induced pluripotent stem cells (miPSCs), and mouse embryonic fibroblast stem cells (MEFs)-were used. Pluripotent mouse stem cells were clearly distinguished from non-pluripotent stem cells. Eight lectins-DBA, MAL, PHA_E, PHA_L, EEL, AAL, PNA, and SNA-generated maximal value to define pluripotency of mouse stem cells in our experiments. The discriminant function based on lectin reactivities was highly accurate for the determination of stem cell pluripotency. These results suggested that glycomic analysis of stem cells leads to a novel comprehensive approach for quality control in cell-based therapy and regenerative medicine.