title: Alkaloidal sugar mimetics: biological activities and therapeutic applications.
abstract: Alkaloids mimicking the structures of sugars inhibit glycosidases because of a structural resemblance to the sugar moiety of the natural substrate. Glycosidases are involved in a wide range of important biological processes, such as intestinal digestion, post-translational processing of glycoproteins and the lysosomal catabolism of glycoconjugates. The realization that alkaloidal sugar mimics might have enormous therapeutic potential in many diseases such as viral infection, cancer and diabetes led to increasing interest and demand for these compounds. In this review, the structural basis of the specificity of alkaloidal sugar mimics and their current and potential applications to biomedical problems are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokuriku University, Kanazawa, Japan. naoki22@po.incl.ne.jp
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Asano
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D065089:Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D016464:Lysosomal Storage Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D008361:Mannosidases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D043323:alpha-Mannosidase
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D002241:Carbohydrates; D065089:Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; D008361:Mannosidases; D043323:alpha-Mannosidase