Glycobiology in medicine

Glycoconjugates play important roles in biological reactions (for example sialyl Lewis^x in homing of leukocytes and mannose-6-phosphate in targeting of lysosomal enzymes) and thus aberration in carbohydrate structures in glyco-conjugates can lead to abnormal biological behaviors. In fact, glycoconjugates expressed on the surfaces of tumor and cancer cells are considerably different from those of the normal cells, at least quantitatively. There are many known carbohydrate-deficient glycoprotein syndromes. As recognition of carbohydrate groups is mostly performed by carbohydrate-binding proteins, aberration in these proteins also results in disease status (for example I-cell disease). Many pathogens use carbohydrates as recognition markers for invasion (examples are influenza virus and cholera toxin). The carbohydrate receptors in various organs can be used for targeting drugs, antibodies and even DNAs. Conjugation of polysaccharides derived from pathogenic micro-organisms with appropriate proteins provides effective vaccines against the micro-organisms.