Carbohydrate Metabolism as Target in Infectious Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Infection of humans (or other mammals) can be caused by different organisms such as bacteria, fungi, parasites or viruses. Each infectious disease presents its own specific signs and symptoms, although some symptoms are common to different diseases. On the other hand, infectious pathogens can be responsible for minor infections such as colds, yeast infections or serious infections that can cause death, such as AIDS, invasive candidemia, malaria, septicaemia or tuberculosis.

Within this wide range of infectious diseases, patient management problems have been identified around the world, whatever the type of disease; for example, problems of resistance to current therapies, a lack of effective diagnostic tools, and high treatment costs causing real concerns for access to care in third world countries.

These different problems have led scientific society to innovate in the development of tools specific to infectious diseases. Indeed, many mechanisms are involved in multiple adaptation processes during infection, such as specific adherence of the pathogen to host cells and tissues, defence and escape against the host’s immune system, damage to host cells and tissues. In order to survive and efficiently replicate in host cells, intracellular pathogens must adapt their metabolism to the physical conditions or available nutrients. Among the different pathogens’ constituents, simple and complex carbohydrates (glycans) have long been known to play a significant role in metabolic, structural and physical roles in biological systems.

The investigation of the molecular basis of these biological events represents an infinite source of inspiration in the field of the fight against infectious diseases.

This Special Issue is devoted to studies on the characterization and modulation of carbohydrate metabolism in infectious diseases. Contributions to any aspect of these fields are welcome, e.g. structural studies, the identification of a new carbohydrate metabolism pathway, structure–activity relationships, the design and synthesis of inhibitors, computational approaches and alternatives animal models used in carbohydrate metabolism studies.

Prof. Dr. Boualem Sendid
Dr. Faustine Dubar
Guest Editors

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