# Quantitative analysis of heparan sulfate using 13C-labeled standards

> **NIH NIH R43** · GLYCAN THERAPEUTICS CORPORATION · 2021 · $300,000

## Abstract

This SBIR phase I proposal is aimed at developing to develop a LC-MS/MS based
method to analyze heparan sulfate in the sub-nanogram range. Heparan sulfate is a
highly sulfated polysaccharide displaying a wide range of biological functions. There is
a strong demand for a quantitative and sensitive method to analyze heparan sulfate. In
this proposal, we propose to achieve the quantitation of heparan sulfate using the
disaccharide analysis. To this end, heparan sulfate is depolymerized into eight
disaccharides by heparin lyases. The composition analysis of the resultant
disaccharides is accomplished by a LC-MS/MS method. The crucial innovation in our
proposed method is to add “absolute quantitation” capability using eight 13C-labeled
disaccharide calibrants and one 13C-labeled polysaccharide calibrant.
 Aim 1 is designed to demonstrate the ability to quantitative compositional analysis of
heparan sulfate from mouse tissues and plasma. In phase I studies, we will focus on
analyzing the HS from plasma, lung, liver, and kidney from healthy mice and burn injury
mice.
Aim 2 is aimed to conduct quantitative analysis of heparan sulfate from a single
histological slide. The sensitivity of the LC-MS/MS method will be improved. In the
phase I studies, we will analyze the heparan sulfate from histological slides from lung,
liver, and kidney from healthy and burn injury mice.
In the phase II studies, we plan to expand the analysis of heparan sulfate to all mouse
tissues from healthy mice and four disease mice. We also plan to conduct the analysis
from clinical samples from burn patients and sepsis patients in phase II studies. The
success of this project will provide a method to analyze heparan sulfate with sensitivity
and accuracy for biologists and will be a major break-through in glycobiology research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10250595
- **Project number:** 1R43GM142304-01
- **Recipient organization:** GLYCAN THERAPEUTICS CORPORATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Vijayakanth Pagadala
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $300,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-15 → 2022-09-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10250595

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10250595, Quantitative analysis of heparan sulfate using 13C-labeled standards (1R43GM142304-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10250595. Licensed CC0.

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