Convenient preparation of an antigenic oligosaccharide from white kidney bean powder: A useful plant oligosaccharide for synthesis of immunoactive glycopolymer

Plant glycoproteins, especially allergenic glycoproteins such as pollen allergens, often carry antigenic N-glycans with α1-3 fucose and/or β1-2 xylose residue(s) on the trimannosyl core structure. We previously reported that one of such antigenic free-form N-glycans, Man3Xyl1Fuc1GlcNAc2 (M3FX) suppressed IL-4 production from Th2 cells of pollinosis patients. For the molecular-level analysis of this immunoactivity, an effective and convenient procedure for large scale preparation of the immunoactive free-form N-glycan and a synthesis of glycopolymers bearing multivalent M3FX has been required. During the preparation of prebiotic oligosaccharides from several edible beans, we found that the free-form M3FX accumulates in relatively large amounts in white kidney beans. In this report, we describe a new procedure for preparation of M3FX from white kidney bean powders by a combination of ion-exchange method, gel-filtration, and hydrophilic partitioning. The high-purity of M3FX prepared by this procedure was confirmed by MS-analysis and 1H-NMR, suggesting that the free-form M3FX can be used for the synthesis of neoglycopolymer. Using this new procedure, the immunoactive oligosaccharide can be prepared without the chemical method such as hydrazinolysis and other purification steps required to exclude other type of N-glycans.