The naturally occurring sialic acids can have different types of N- and O-substitutions, resulting in more than 20 known isomers and compounds. Most methods for the detailed study of these various sialic acids require that the molecules be first released from their alpha-glycosidic linkage. When mild acid hydrolysis is used for this purpose, significant destruction of O-substituent groups occur...

Pneumococcal neuraminidase is a key enzyme for sequential deglycosylation of host glycans, and plays an important role in host survival, colonization, and pathogenesis of infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. One of the factors that can affect the activity of neuraminidase is the amount and position of acetylation present in its substrate sialic acid. We hypothesised that pneumococcal ...

Emergence of influenza viruses with reduced susceptibility to neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) develops at a low level following drug treatment, and person-to-person transmission of resistant virus has not been recognized to date. The Neuraminidase Inhibitor Susceptibility Network (NISN) was established to follow susceptibility of isolates and occurrence of NAI resistance at a population level i...

Background: Sialic acid is a component of serum that is elevated in diseases such as diabetes and certain malignancies.  The normal range of SSA concentration and serum neuraminidase activity in different populations are varied, probably due to racial differences. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to obtain the average SSA concentration and serum neuraminidase activity, in an Iran...

How does Relenza work? It blocks the action of the enzyme neuraminidase (also called sialidase) on the surface of types A and B influenza viruses, preventing them from spreading to other cells. Influenza viruses bind to sialic acids on the surface of host cells through the viral haemagglutinin glycoprotein. The haemagglutinin causes the virus envelope to fuse with the membrane of the endosome, ...

Trans-sialidase and neuraminidase activities have been detected on the surface membrane of trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi, and both have been implicated in the parasite's invasion of host cells. We show here that these enzymes are structurally related. They are recognized by two independently derived monoclonal antibodies, are anchored to the membrane by glycosylphosphatidylinositol, copu...

Influenza antiviral agents play important roles in modulating disease severity and in controlling pandemics while vaccines are prepared, but the development of resistance to agents like the commonly used neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir may limit their future utility. We report here on a new class of specific, mechanism-based anti-influenza drugs that function through the formation of a stab...

A selective and potent inhibitor of neuraminidases, a hydrolase that is responsible for processing sialylated glycoconjugates, is a promising drug candidate for various infective diseases. The current study demonstrates that the use of an aglycone-focused library of 2-difluoromethylphenyl α-sialosides is an effective technique to find potent and selective mechanism-based labeling reagents for n...

A rapid and precise assay for neuraminidase using 2-(3'-methoxyphenyl)-N-acetyl-alpha-neuraminic acid (MPN) is described. It is proposed that this substrate be used for the standardization of activity of neuraminidases from viral, bacterial, and mammalian sources. MPN is also used as a chromogenic substrate to localize influenza and parainfluenza virus foci in tissue culture. This technique per...