| Abstract: |
This review provides an overview of our explorations into oligosaccharide and glycoconjugate construction for the creation and evaluation of glycopeptide-based vaccines. The basis for these investigations is the known tendency of both cancer cells and viruses to express selective carbohydrate motifs in the form of glycoproteins or glycolipids. Utilization of these carbohydrates in a glycopeptide-based vaccine could potentially trigger immune recognition, generating a protective response against the disease. However, obtaining large quantities of such compounds from natural sources is extremely difficult. Over the past two decades, our lab has been engaged in the total synthesis of complex oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates. With this knowledge and experience, we have begun to evaluate, in many cases at the clinical level, whether the human immune system is capable of mounting a response against such fully synthetic carbohydrate antigens in a focused and useful way. Toward this goal, we have merged the powers of both chemistry and immunology to provide insight into this problem. The synthesis and evaluation of potential vaccines for both cancer and HIV will be described. |
