Preparation of glycan array and its applications

Abstract

Glycan arrays have become a powerful tool for the high-throughput elucidation of interactions of different carbohydrate structures with a wide variety of biological targets, including antibodies, proteins, viruses, and cells. This technique is especially suitable for glycomics studies, because arrays present carbohydrate ligands in a manner that mimics interactions at cell–cell interfaces. The most useful application of glycan array is the study of protein–sugar interaction. Moreover, this platform can also be used for pathogen detection, cancer studies, carbohydrate-based vaccine validation, and drug screening.