Glycotherapy: New Advances Inspire a Reemergence of Glycans in Medicine

Abstract

The beginning of the 20th century marked the dawn of modern medicine with glycan-based therapies at the forefront. However, glycans quickly became overshadowed as DNA- and protein-focused treatments became readily accessible. The recent development of new tools and techniques to study and produce structurally defined carbohydrates has spurred renewed interest in the therapeutic applications of glycans. This review focuses on advances within the past decade that are bringing glycan-based treatments back to the forefront of medicine and the technologies that are driving these efforts. These include the use of glycans themselves as therapeutic molecules as well as engineering protein and cell surface glycans to suit clinical applications. Glycan therapeutics offer a rich and promising frontier for developments in the academic, biopharmaceutical, and medical fields.

Carbohydrates Against Cancer

“…Besides being the first biological product formed in the life cycle as glucose, carbohydrates/saccharides are the most abundant and one of the most important classes of biomolecules on earth (Cui and Brummer 2005;Dewick 2009;Hudak and Bertozzi 2014) consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms with general formula of C x (H 2 O) y .…”

“…On the other hand, their important biological functions including their roles in fertilization, preventing pathogenesis, blood homeostasis, immunity and development, and also pharmacologic activities (Maton 1997;Hudak and Bertozzi 2014;Chang 2007) make them important biomolecules for human beings. In cancer therapy, they are now considered as functional molecules, which can be used for targeting cancerous cells (discussed below).…”

Recent Advances in Chemoenzymatic Bioconjugation Methods

“…For a glimpse of carbohydrate remodeling enzymes, visit CAZY on the web (http://www.cazy.org/). Recent reviews have highlighted advancements in the study of glycosyl transferases, 75 glycotherapies, 76 and methods for preparing glycoproteins for performing structure-function studies. [77][78][79] Wu and coworkers developed a technology for the evaluation of LacNAc levels in histology sections.…”

Block-Sequence-Specific Glycopolypeptides with Selective Lectin Binding Properties

“…vaccines) have seen enormous growth rates. 4,5 However, development of applicable glycomaterials is highly complicated due to the structural complexity of biological glycans, for example, glycans can have different branching patterns and different linkages between thesugars. 6 They can also be linkedto proteins in many differentways.…”