Asparagine-linked sugar chains of erythrocyte membrane glycoproteins from Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome are not impaired.

In both healthy controls and patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, the main oligosaccharide in asparagine-linked sugar chains of the membrane glycoproteins of erythrocytes was biantennary sugar chain with bisected GlcNAc (Gal2-GlcNAc2-Man3-GlcNAc-GlcNAc-Fuc-GlcNAcOT). Biantennary sugar chain with an alpha-fucosyl residue linked at the proximal GlcNAc was seen but biantennary sugar chain without an alpha-fucosyl residue at the proximal GlcNAc was not detected in each subject. There was no difference in quality and quantity of asparagine-linked sugar chains of erythrocyte membrane glycoproteins between healthy controls and the patients. These results suggest that asparagine-linked sugar chains in membrane glycoproteins of hematopoietic cells may not be impaired in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.