All our cells are coated in a complex, dynamic, forest of glycans termed the glycocalyx. There have been many attempts to target, or inhibit, glycan binding proteins for therapeutics/diagnostics but less to actually target the glycans themselves. Here I will discuss our progress in developing tools to enable us to target-cell surface glycans to induce therapeutic effects, enabling us to kill cancerous cells or pathogens ‘from the outside in’ without the need to for intracellular payload delivery. Firstly, I will show how we engineer cell glycans to capture polymeric chemotherapeutics – rather than engineering the polymer to target the cell. This is exemplified with cationic polymers, enabling selective cell (in 2D and spheroid models) killing overcoming the low-selectiivty of these polymers. Secondly, I will demonstrate how targeting and blocking glycans on the surface of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (mTB) allow us to kill the pathogen without the need to deliver a drug through its impermeable cell wall.

Targeting polymers to cell-surface glycans as extracellular chemotherapeutics

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.