The over-expression of saccharides such as Globo-H, Lewis Y and Tn antigen is a common feature of oncogenic transformed cells. Endeavors to exploit this aberrant glycosylation for cancer vaccine development has been complicated by difficulties of eliciting high titers of IgG antibodies against classical conjugates of tumor-associated carbohydrates to carrier proteins. We have designed, chemical synthesized and immunologically evaluated a number of fully synthetic vaccine candidates to establish strategies to overcome the poor immunogenicity of tumor-associated carbohydrates and glycopeptides. We have found that a three-component vaccine composed of a TLR2 agonist, a promiscuous peptide T-helper epitope and a tumor-associated glycopeptide, can elicit in mice exceptionally high titers of IgG antibodies that can recognize cancer cells expressing the tumor-associated carbohydrate. The superior properties of the vaccine candidate are attributed to the local production of cytokines, upregulation of co-stimulatory proteins, enhanced uptake by macrophages and dendritic cells and avoidance of epitope suppression.A broad and expanding body of preclinical and clinical studies [1][2][3][4] demonstrates that naturally acquired, passively administered or actively induced antibodies against carbohydrate-associated tumor antigens are able to eliminate circulating tumor cells and micro-metastases in cancer patients. Tumor-associated saccharides are, however, of low antigenicity, because they are self-antigens and consequently tolerated by the immune system. In addition, foreign carrier proteins such as keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the linker that attach the saccharides to the carrier protein can elicit strong B-cell responses, which may lead to the suppression of antibody responses against the carbohydrate epitope 5,6 . It is clear that the successful development of carbohydrate-based cancer vaccines requires novel strategies for the more efficient presentation of tumor-associated carbohydrate epitopes to the immune system, resulting in a more efficient class switch to IgG antibodies 7-17 .We reasoned that a three-component vaccine composed of a tumor-associated carbohydrate B-epitope, a promiscuous peptide T-helper (Th) epitope and a Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand will circumvent immune suppression caused by a carrier protein or the linker region of a classical conjugate vaccine. Such a vaccine candidate contains, however, all mediators required for eliciting a strong IgG immune response. In the first instance, vaccine candidates 1 and 2 were designed, which contain as a B-epitope a tumor-associated glycopeptide derived from MUC1 1,18 and the well-documented murine MHC class II restricted Th (Fig. 1). Furthermore, compound 1 contains as an built-in adjuvant the lipopeptide Pam 2 CysSK 4 , which is a potent activator of TLR2/6, whereas compound 2 contains Pam 3 CysSK 4 , which induces cellular activation through TLR1/2 20 .Compound 1 was prepared by a solid-phase peptide synthesis ...

Cell penetrating peptides facilitate efficient intracellular uptake of diverse materials ranging from small contrast agents to larger proteins and nanoparticles. However, a significant impediment remains in the subsequent compartmentalization/endosomal sequestration of most of these cargoes. Previous functional screening suggested that a modular peptide originally designed to deliver palmitoyl-protein thioesterase inhibitors to neurons could mediate endosomal escape in cultured cells. Here, we detail properties relevant to this peptide’s ability to mediate cytosolic delivery of quantum dots (QDs) to a wide range of cell-types, brain tissue culture and a developing chick embryo in a remarkably non-toxic manner. The peptide further facilitated efficient endosomal escape of large proteins, dendrimers and other nanoparticle materials. We undertook an iterative structure-activity relationship analysis of the peptide by discretely modifying key components including length, charge, fatty acid content and their order using a comparative, semi-quantitative assay. This approach allowed us to define the key motifs required for endosomal escape, to select more efficient escape sequences, along with unexpectedly identifying a sequence modified by one methylene group that specifically targeted QDs to cellular membranes. We interpret our results within a model of peptide function and highlight implications for in vivo labeling and nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery by using different peptides to co-deliver cargoes to cells and engage in multifunctional labeling.

Studies of post-translational modification by β-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) are hampered by a lack of efficient tools such as O-GlcNAc specific antibodies that can be employed for detection, isolation, and site localization. We have obtained a large panel of O-GlcNAcspecific IgG MAbs having a broad spectrum of binding partners by combining three-component immunogen methodology with hybridoma technology. Immunoprecipitation followed by largescale shotgun proteomics led to the identification of more than 200 mammalian O-GlcNAc modified proteins, including a large number of novel glycoproteins. A substantial number of the glycoproteins were only enriched by one of the antibodies and this observation combined with results of inhibition ELISAs suggests that the antibodies in addition to their O-GlcNAcdependence also appear to have different, but overlapping, local peptide determinants. The MAbs made it possible to delineate differentially modified proteins of liver in response to traumahemorrhage and resuscitation in a rat model.

This review describes the recent advances in the field of glycopeptide and small glycoprotein synthesis. The strategies covered include chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis, native chemical ligation (NCL), and expressed chemical ligation. The importance of glycopeptide synthesis is exemplified by giving the reader an overview of how versatile and important these well-defined glycopeptides are as tools in glycobiology.

A spoonful of sugar …︁ A carbohydrate‐based fully synthetic vaccine 1, composed of a tumor‐associated Tn antigen, a peptide T epitope, and a lipopeptide (see structure), shows potential as a candidate against cancer. Incorporation of the glycolipopeptide into liposomes gave a formulation that was able to elicit a T cell dependent antibody response in mice.