DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF CARBOHYDRATE-BASED INHIBITORS OF PROTEIN-CARBOHYDRATE INTERACTIONS

Our understanding of carbohydrate-protein interactions has significant ly advanced over the past two years. In particular, a healthy amount o f literature has appeared on selectins and their relevant ligands. A s ignificant number of carbohydrate-metabolizing enzyme crystal structur es have been solved which provide useful starting points for computer- assisted drug design. Some of these proteins have been implicated eith er directly or indirectly in playing roles in human-disease states, fo r example, in inflammation in diabetes and its complications, and in m icroorganism-induced diseases such as influenza and cholera.