title: Carbohydrate-mimetic peptides for pan anti-tumor responses.
abstract: Molecular mimicry is fundamental to biology and transcends to many disciplines ranging from immune pathology to drug design. Structural characterization of molecular partners has provided insight into the origins and relative importance of complementarity in mimicry. Chemical complementarity is easy to understand; amino acid sequence similarity between peptides, for example, can lead to cross-reactivity triggering similar reactivity from their cognate receptors. However, conformational complementarity is difficult to decipher. Molecular mimicry of carbohydrates by peptides is often considered one of those. Extensive studies of innate and adaptive immune responses suggests the existence of carbohydrate mimicry, but the structural basis for this mimicry yields confounding details; peptides mimicking carbohydrates in some cases fail to exhibit both chemical and conformational mimicry. Deconvolution of these two types of complementarity in mimicry and its relationship to biological function can nevertheless lead to new therapeutics. Here, we discuss our experience examining the immunological aspects and implications of carbohydrate-peptide mimicry. Emphasis is placed on the rationale, the lessons learned from the methodologies to identify mimics, a perspective on the limitations of structural analysis, the biological consequences of mimicking tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens, and the notion of reverse engineering to develop carbohydrate-mimetic peptides in vaccine design strategies to induce responses to glycan antigens expressed on cancer cells.
authors: Department of Pathology and Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , Little Rock, AR , USA.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Kieber-Emmons
authors: Department of Pathology and Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , Little Rock, AR , USA.
authors: Somdutta
authors: S
authors: Saha
authors: Stephan Angelov Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors: Anastas
authors: A
authors: Pashov
authors: Department of Pathology and Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences , Little Rock, AR , USA.
authors: Behjatolah
authors: B
authors: Monzavi-Karbassi
authors: Research Division of Immunology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , Los Angeles, CA , USA.
authors: Ramachandran
authors: R
authors: Murali
keywords: cancer; carbohydrate-mimetic peptide; glycans; mimotope; structural design; vaccines