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oai:figshare.com:article/32805815 2026-10-01T16:12:47Z portal_1172 item_type_8 month_year_10_2026

The design and synthesis of boronic acid-based nanomaterials for targeting disease-associated glycans Lorcan John Patrick Rooney (24292943) PUREID: 689342141 Boronic Acid nanomaterial polymer sialic acid cancer bacteria biofilm glycan recognition All cells in nature are covered by glycans. Given their location, glycan chains mediate a range of cell–cell, cell–matrix and cell–molecule interactions with glycan-binding proteins. Changes in physiological glycosylation patterns can have detrimental effects on human health. For example, cancer cells can use upregulation of certain sugars on their cells to initiate immunosuppressive pathways with the immune system. On the other hand, bacteria use a variety of glycans as binding sites to initiate host colonisation. <br><br>Glycan-mediated interactions are multivalent and require high avidity for successful binding. Therefore, therapies that target glycans or glycan-binding proteins commonly use antibodies or multivalent glycomimetics respectively to achieve the high affinity required. These therapies may be expensive or result in damaging off-target effects. Moreover, the exact pathways that allow the pathophysiological effects are various, with many remaining unknown. Therefore, more insight is needed to create truly specific therapies.<br><br>This work involves the development of multivalent boronic acid-functionalised nanomaterials to study glycan-dependent pathophysiological interactions. It was hypothesised that if materials can be synthesised to disrupt these pathophysiological glycan-binding events, it may be possible to activate the immune system to the presence of cancer cells and prevent bacterial infection respectively. Boronic acids are thus used as glycan-binding moieties that can form covalent boronate esters with diols on sugars.<br><br>Boronic acid-functionalised nanomaterials were developed to inhibit cancer cell–immune cell interactions and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation through reversible glycan binding. Photocleavable boronic acid nanomaterials were also developed to enable controlled UV irradiation-triggered loss of glycan binding. Together, these systems establish a platform for studying and manipulating glycan-mediated biological interactions. 2026-10-01T16:12:47Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32805815.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/The_design_and_synthesis_of_boronic_acid-based_nanomaterials_for_targeting_disease-associated_glycans/32805815 All Rights Reserved