How to perform rational drug design? Lessons from X-ray crystallography,chemical mapping and calorimetry

Abstract

Elucidation of the intricacies of carbohydrate recognition by proteins undoubtedly paves the way for a rational design of carbohydrate-based drugs. Progress towards this goal demands a detailed structural characterisation of the protein target, identification of the ligand determinants essential for recognition and a thorough thermodynamic characterisation of the binding process. To this aim, X-ray crystallography, chemical mapping and calorimetric studies have proved to be highly valuable tools.

Keywords

carbohydrate-binding proteins galectins crystal structure synthetic sugar derivatives isothermal titration calorimetry drug design

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