Glycosyltransferases as Potential Drug Targets

Copyright: © 2013 Sun XL. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Glycoconjugates, existing as glycoproteins, glycolipids and proteoglycans on cell surface, are involved in many biological processes, such as cell-cell communication, signal transduction, immune response, and microbial adhesion and infection [1]. Structures features of glycoconjugates are vital in specific biological processes, however, change dramatically during disease development such as malignant transformation [2]. Glycosyltransferases (GTs) manage the biosynthesis of glycans and glycoconjugates, and thus play essential roles in these biological processes [3]. Therefore, intervention of GTs has attracted remarkable interest for drug development since inhibitors of GTs can potentially interfere pathological processes, in which the GTs are involved [4]. With the recent advances of glycomics and chemical glycobiology, the considerable potential of GTs as drug targets has been revealed and prospective strategy for GTs inhibition have been developed, especially in therapeutic areas of inflammation, cancer and infection diseases. This Editorial highlights the recent advances in drug development targeting GTs.