Glycan 2022 : Bioengineering Special Issue: Glycans in Therapy and Diagnostics

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last two decades, glycans have evolved as relevant diagnostic biomarkers and also as a quality attribute for manufactured therapeutic glycoproteins. Glycans are a major constituent of glycolipids as well as secreted and cell surface glycoproteins and account for the overall structural microheterogeneity of these molecules. Human-type glycan structures are characterized by a set of individual glycan moieties composed of varying numbers of glycosidically linked hexose and desoxyhexose units and neuraminic acid. Aberrant patterns of glycosylation have been observed in the context of several diseases and are therefore being developed into valuable biomarkers that help to distinguish a healthy from the diseased state and lift the power of diagnostic assays to yet another level. The heterogenic profile of N- and O-glycan compositions within a manufactured batch of bulk drug substance affects the overall efficacy of the biologic drug and is therefore considered to be a critical quality attribute that needs to be monitored throughout production and in the context of product release. The industry has started to address this need to match specific desirable glycan compositions by glycan engineering of host cells as well as by linking process parameters to drug substance glycan quality attributes via QbD type process design and development accompanied by concomitant monitoring of the drug substance glycan structure. Glycan discovery, glycan engineering and glycan analytics are among the most important fields of current biopharma research. There is an urgent need for advancement in all of these sectors. This Special Issue of Bioengineering on “Glycans in therapy and disease” comprises expert contributions from industry and academia on glycans in the context of diagnostic biomarker discovery and development, glycan structure as a target for molecular engineering of production hosts for therapeutic glycoproteins and current advances in glycan analytical technology.

Please contact Sophie Wang ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Dr. Volker Sandig
Prof. Dr. Hans Henning Von Horsten
Prof. Dr. Stephan Hinderlich
Guest Editors