The heparan sulfates are a family of cell-surface and matrix polysaccharides with an incredible degree of structural diversity that are distributed widely in virtually all metazoan organisms.
The dynamic expression of heparan sulfates with differing sugar sequences suggests a repertoire of sequences produced by a particular cell or tissue called 'heparanome'.
Mucin-like glycoproteins, such as heparan sulfate, serve as ligands for the leukocyte adhesion molecule called CD44. These glycoproteins are found in the extracellular matrix and on cell surfaces.
References
Hacker U, Nybakken K, Perrimon N. Heparan sulphate proteoglycans: the sweet side of development. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2005 Jul;6(7):530-41. PMID: #16072037#
Turnbull J, Powell A, Guimond S. Heparan sulfate: decoding a dynamic multifunctional cell regulator. Trends Cell Biol. 2001 Feb;11(2):75-82. PMID: #11166215#