聚糖的合成及其在糖疫苗研究中的应用

Chemical synthesis of glycans and applications in carbohydrate-based vaccines

糖类在各种生命活动过程中发挥着重要的作用,但聚糖的获得性问题和其相对较弱的免疫原性一直限制了糖化学生物学尤其是糖疫苗研究的发展.近年来,聚糖和糖复合物化学合成技术的进步很大程度上促进了糖疫苗(包括抗菌疫苗、抗肿瘤疫苗、抗HIV疫苗等)研究的兴盛.其中,寡糖一釜合成策略和固相合成策略大大提高了聚糖合成的效率;聚糖与载体蛋白偶联的复合物也成功提高了糖抗原的免疫原性.本文将结合本课题组的相关研究工作,简述糖类化合物化学合成的方法和策略方面的研究进展及其在糖疫苗研究中的应用,希望对更好地理解糖化学生物学特别是糖疫苗有所帮助.

Carbohydrates play important roles in many biological processes. However, the lack of resources of structurally-defined carbohydrates and their weak immunogenicity have always restricted the development of chemical glycobiology especially carbohydrate-based vaccines. The progress in chemical synthesis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates has greatly promoted the development of carbohydrate-based vaccines including antibacterial vaccines, anti-tumor vaccines and anti-HIV vaccines. The use of one-pot glycosylation strategy and solid-phase glycosylation strategy is able to synthesize oligosaccharides and even polysaccharides more effectively than before. Glycoconjugates produced by combining the carbohydrate antigens and proper protein carriers improve the immunogenicity of carbohydrates. This review covers the general methods and strategies of carbohydrate chemical synthesis, and the recent development of carbohydrate-based vaccines, and also summarizes related work of our group, hoping to offer readers better understanding of chemical glycobiology especially carbohydrate-based vaccines.