Interfering with the Sugar Code: Medicinal Chemistry with Carbohydrates

Oligosaccharide determinants of cellular glycoconjugates interact with protein receptors triggering a variety of cellular responses within a wide range of physiological and pathological processes and with exquisitely tuned selectivity. This has led to the formulation of the hypothesis that a sugar code exists and that sugar-binding proteins (lectins) act to read it out and translate it into biological responses. Interference with these recognition events by functional mimics of carbohydrates can be used to modulate or alter signal transmission, or to prevent the onset of diseases. The main results in the field will be reviewed in this presentation.