Glycan mimicry as a basis for novel anti-infective drugs

The idea of using carbohydrate-based drugs to prevent attachment of microbi al pathogens to host tissues has been around for about three decades. This concept evolved from the observation that many pathogenic microbes bind to complex carbohydrate sequences on the surface of host cells. It stands to r eason, therefore, that analogs of the carbohydrate sequences pathogens bind to could be used to competitively inhibit these interactions, thereby prev enting microbial damage to the host. This article will summarize some of th e recent advances in developing such carbohydrate-based anti-infective drug s. (C) 2001 Societe francaise de biochimie et biologic moleculaire/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. Ali rights reserved.