I was wondering what the future of glycobiology is? When I was studying glycobiology about 15 years ago there was a great deal of hope and anticipation that great things were around the corner! There were even theories that by controling the glycosylation machinery of a cell, cures for cancer would soon follow. Now that that hype has died down - what do glycobiologists hope to discover over the next few years??

Yikes! Thats a large question. Glycobiology is a HUGE field these days. Within glycobiology there are probably ten subfields including N-linked, O-linked, glycosaminoglycans, glycolipids, etc.

Alteration of glycosylation is responsible for many human disorders including artherosclerotic lesions, alzhemiers plaques, tumor vasculogenesis, the list is fairly endless.

As far as altering glycosylation to cure cancer those ideas are still in place, but as with everything in science it takes lot of time. There are several companies that are seeking specific inhibitors of glycosylation enzymes.

Best

RB

Check out this review if you're interested in how glycobiology is being translated into human health.

Gornik O, Dumic J, Flogel M, Lauc G
Glycoscience - a new frontier in rational drug design.
Acta Pharm. 2006 Mar;56(1):19-30.


Rb