Patent ID: 8691774

Claim:
A method of detecting a glycan structure from a sample of human mesenchymal, hematopoietic or embryonal type stem cells, comprising the step of (a) contacting the stem cells with a binding agent specifically binding to said glycan structure or (b) preparing a glycan containing fraction from the stem cells and identifying the glycan structures by mass spectrometric profiling, wherein said glycan structure is selected from the group consisting of at least one terminal or core glycan sequence structure according to the Formula R 1 Hexβz{R 3 } n1 Hex(NAc) n2 XyR 2 , wherein X is glycosidically linked disaccharide epitope β4(Fucα6) n GN, wherein n is 0 or 1, or X is nothing, or when n2 is 0, X can be βCer, a ceramide or part or derivative thereof and yR 2 is nothing or reducing end glycan core part comprising a glycolipid, or O-glycan or glycosaminoglycan or N-glycan core structures; Hex is Gal or Man or GlcA; HexNAc is GlcNAc or GalNAc; y is anomeric linkage structure α and/or β or linkage from derivatized anomeric carbon; z is linkage position 3 or 4, with the provision that when z is 4 then HexNAc is GlcNAc and then Hex is Man or Gal or GlcA, and when z is 3 then Hex is GlcA or Gal and HexNAc is GlcNAc or GalNAc and with the provision that Hex can be Man only when n1 is 0 and n2 is 1, n1 is 0 or 1 indicating presence or absence of R3; n2 is 0 or 1, indicating the presence or absence of NAc, with the provision that n2 can be 0 only when Hexβz is Galβ4, and n2 is 0 or 1; R 1 indicates 1-4 naturally occurring carbohydrate substituents linked to the core structures or nothing; R 2 is a natural O-glycan, N-glycan or glycolipid reducing end structure or a chemical reducing end derivatization structure; R 3 is nothing or a branching structure representing a GlcNAcβ6 or an oligosaccharide with GlcNAβ6 at its reducing end linked to GalNAc or when Hex is Gal and HexNAc is GlcNAc then when z is 3 R3 is Fucα4 or nothing and when z is 4 R3 is Fucα3 or nothing, with the provisions that i) the stem cells are not cells of a cancer cell line, and ii) when the cells are embryonal stem cells, the glycan structure is not a SSEA3 or -4 structure, and iii) when cells are hematopoietic CD34 + cells, the structure is not a single structure comprising SAα3Galβ4GlcNAc.