Glycopolymers and glyco-nanoparticles in biomolecular recognition processes and vaccine development.

With advances in polymerization techniques as well as selective chemical modification of carbohydrates, glycopolymers and glyco-nanoparticles are emerging as an important class of materials with tailored properties or novel nanotechnology-based platforms for a number of applications. The field of the so-called glyco-nanotechnology is starting to show some promises for future clinical applications. Glyco-nanoparticles, due to their versatile nature, could offer a platform for the design of carbohydrate-based vaccines and possibly allow the development of new single-dose vaccines in disease areas of unmet need. This paper surveys the emerging roles of carbohydrate-based polymeric and nanomaterials for biomolecular recognition processes and vaccine development.