Glycomimetics and Glycoconjugates as Therapeutics in Infectious Diseases

Mimics of natural carbohydrates (glycomimetics) and unnatural glycoconjugates are under intense scrutiny for the development of anti-infective therapies alternative or complementary to classical antibiotics. Three current approaches are reviewed in this article: (1) antiadhesive therapies, that focus on disrupting carbohydrate-protein complexes involved in microbial adhesion to host cells; (2) vaccines that use as antigens either polysaccharide fragments from bacterial and viruses surface or bacterial and viral lectins; (3) small molecule glycomimetic inhibitors of bacterial enzymes and antivirals.