Demonstration of endogenous lectins in synovial tissue.

We have recently shown that synoviocytes and extracellular matrices exhibit distinct patterns of carbohydrate expression. Their biological relevance is however not known. The purpose of the present study was to find out whether human synovial tissue would also show a specific receptor pattern for complex sugar molecules. Endogenous lectins were displayed by means of biotinylated neoglycoproteins and sulfated polysaccharides in paraffin-embedded material or cryosections. In addition to certain carbohydrate components that are known to be constituents of the carbohydrate part of cellular glycoconjugates, our panel included heparin and fucoidan, a sulfated fucose. Binding sites were shown usin…