Abstract
A general consensus has been reached that Iectin receptors are complex carbohydrates of cellular membrane, in which much attention has paied on glycoproteins because of their transmembranous nature. Many lectins can discriminate the type of sugar chains in glycoprotein molecules, since they recognize a sugar portion larger than disaccharide moiety.
We classified several lectins into three groups according to their binding specificities to sugar chains. By this classification, we demonstrated the relationship between the carbohydrate binding specificity and the effect on lymphocyte proliferation of lectins. For suffisient chemical characterization, the lectin receptors should be isolated in pure form.
In case of human erythrocyte membranes two major glycoproteins were identified as receptors of several lectins, however, in other cells, chemical nature of lectin receptor glycoproteins are still unclear. In this review, I also discuss control mechanisms of the mobility of lectin receptors, and lectin-induced cellular interactions.
