Globoside

A globoside is a type of glycosphingolipid with more than one sugar as the side chain (or R group) of ceramide. The sugars are usually a combination of "N"-acetylgalactosamine, -glucose or -galactose. A glycosphingolipid that has only one sugar as the side chain is called a cerebroside.
The side chain can be cleaved by galactosidases and glucosidases. The deficiency of α-galactosidase A causes Fabry's disease, an inherited metabolic disease characterized by the accumulation of the globoside globotriaosylceramide.
Globoside (GB4) has been known as the receptor for Parvovirus B19, due to observations that B19V binds to the thin-layered chromatogram of the structure. However, the binding on its surface does not match well with the virus, which raised debates on whether or not GB4 is the cause for productive infection. Additional research using the technique Knockout Cell Line has shown that although GB4 does not have the direct entry receptor for B19V, it plays a post-entry role in productive infection.