Recent Research on Glycobiology in Host-Pathogen Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Glycans or ‘complex carbohydrates’ are a sugar coating that is presented by all mammalian cells. This ubiquitous post-translational modification is abundantly expressed as a part of cellular glycolipids and glycoproteins. Glycans are presented by blood and vascular cells, and also epithelial cells that line lung, oral and gut tissue. In these contexts, the glycans act as a primary molecular recognition interface, and also as a barrier that impacts the host cell recognition of foreign organisms. While beneficial in many instances, foreign organisms (virus, bacteria, fungi, parasites) may also act as pathogens that contribute to disease in mammals. The examples of viruses where glycans play critical functional roles in human diseases include, but are not limited to, influenza, beta-coronavirus and human-immunodeficiency virus. The examples of bacterial pathogens where glycans have important functional roles include Helicobacter pyroli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During disease, glycans play diverse roles including the regulation of cellular binding interactions, providing barrier function that protects the host, shielding host immune response and controlling protein processing/stability when the pathogen hijacks the host cell biochemical machinery. Recognizing the importance of this post-translational modification, numerous attempts have been made to produce glycan-based therapeutics by targeting both the pathogen and the host.

Indeed, the role of glycans in host–pathogen interactions is significant, and their importance is rapidly growing. This Special Issue aims to capture the excitement in this research field by presenting a broad class of review articles and research manuscripts aimed at describing new knowledge related to viral and bacterial interactions with host cells and their implications toward mammalian diseases.

Dr. Sriram Neelamegham
Dr. Balaji Manicassamy
Prof. Dr. Ashu Sharma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• glycosciences
• glycoprotein
• mucin
• glycolipid
• pathogen
• virology
• virus
• bacteria
• infectious disease
• virulence
• immune evasion
• pathogen–host interactions