Vascular endothelial cells, in addition to many other mammalian cell types, express proteins that are highly modified with mucin-type O-glycosylation, a specific type of glycosylation that begins with the addition of an N-acetylgalactosamine moiety to serine or threonine residues within the peptide backbone. Recently, it has become evident that O-glycosylation governs the separation of blood and lymphatic vessels throughout life and plays a critical role in maintaining vascular integrity in specific tissues such as the brain and lymph node. This mini-review seeks to highlight some of these recent advances regarding in vivo functions of mucin-type O-glycans.
Keywords: Clec-2; O-glycosylation; platelet; podoplanin; vascular integrity.
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