Gold glyconanoparticles as multivalent nanocarriers for carbohydrate-antigens

Resumen

Carbohydrates are one of the major classes of molecules exploited by evolution to maintain the complexity of life. Linked to proteins or lipids, carbohydrates are one of the main components of the outer surface of cells where they are involved in many cellular processes. There are many approaches to understand and intervene in carbohydrate-mediated interactions: One strategy consists in the design and preparation of synthetic chemical tools able to mimic the natural glycans presentation. In this Thesis, multivalent and multifunctional gold nanoparticles coated with thiol-ending glycosides and/or drugs have been prepared to contribute in different biomedical fields where carbohydrates are involved. Gold nanoparticles coated with carbohydrate-antigens related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Streptococcus pneumoniae and other parasites have been designed and prepared as biomimetic synthetic macromolecules for mimicking the carbohydrate presentation of these pathogens. These gold glyco-nanoparticles have been exploited as drug delivery system against HIV, as carrier for carbohydrate-based vaccines against HIV and S. pneumoniae and as new and sensitive tool for the detection of biomarkers involved in parasitic infections. In addition, these biocompatible nanomaterials have been explored to study the role of different carbohydrates (non-self and self) in the dendritic cells-mediated innate immunity. The results of this Thesis encourage the exploitation of gold glyco-nanoparticles in different field of glyco-science ranging from biomarkers detection to adaptive and innate immune response against carbohydrates.