Advances in Glyco-Based Anticancer Agents
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 166
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the 1930s, Otto Warburg demonstrated that cancer cells show high rates of glucose cell uptake and secretion of lactic acid, a unique feature of cancer cells, even in the presence of oxygen. This phenomenon, now known as the Warburg effect or aerobic glycolysis, stands out as a distinctive feature across various tumor types. In recent years, several strategies focused on the energy metabolism of cancer cells, leading to targeted treatments against cancer. Due to this increased metabolism, several enzymes and transporters (carbonic anhydrases, glucose transporters, kinases, etc.) are overexpressed in the development of tumor cells. It has been demonstrated that the inhibition of these targets related to glycolysis could become a feasible strategy for cancer treatment. One of the most successful approaches for the design of enzyme and transporter inhibitors involves the attachment of carbohydrate moieties to pharmacophores, leading to the development of novel glycoinhibitors and modulators. Carbohydrates can modify the physicochemical properties of these pharmacological agents. In addition, the stereochemical diversity across the carbohydrate moieties provides an opportunity to interrogate subtle differences in the interaction with the selected targets.
Therefore, authors are invited to submit original research and review articles addressing the progress and current status of the design of glycol-inhibitors and modulators targeting the Warburg effect in cancer.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Natural and synthetic glycosides that target energy metabolism in cancer;
- Studies of glycosides as antitumor agents (in vitro and in vivo);
- Docking simulations of known and novel glycosides that interact with targets involved in the Warburg effect.
Prof. Dr. Pedro Colinas
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- carbohydrates
- cancer
- Warburg effect
- glycolysis
- enzyme inhibitors
- transporters inhibitors
- docking simulations
- tumor microenvironment
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