Advances in glyconanotechnology based biomedical applications

There is an emerging awareness in cancer biology that glycobiology plays a significant, if not decisive role in oncogenesis, tumor survival, and proliferation. The human glycome is even more complex than the human genome, because glycans are synthesized as secondary gene products by sequentially acting glycosidases and glycosyltransferases. Glycans act as a communication system within the organism and between different organisms. In principle, nanotechnology has the potential of amplifying glycan interaction. By using the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticular systems, glyconanoparticles have revolutionized the biomedical research by developing platforms for cancer therapy, drug delivery, immunotherapy, biosensing and bioimaging. Here we comment on the most used glycans, and nanomaterials in glyconanotechnology, along with new insights.