Synthesis and biological evaluation of neoglycosphingolipids.

Various neoglycosphingolipids were efficiently synthesized in a one-step reaction by the coupling of free sugars with an N-alkylaminooxy-functionalized ceramide analogue. The bioactivity studies demonstrated that most of these compounds could upregulate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9, extracellular matrix proteins associated with tumor migration) in murine melanoma B16 cells in a similar manner to the natural ganglioside monosialodihexosylganglioside (GM3), which highlights the potential use of these neoglycosphingolipids as inhibitors of tumor migration.