About this Research Topic
Challenges lie in studying lectin-virus interactions as we lack an extensive understanding of ligand specificities of the lectins when targeting a broad range of viruses. Lectins display relatively weak binding affinities for glycans, despite some of them showing an oligomeric arrangement in biological systems to achieve multivalency. The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a comprehensive perspective of current state of the art development of lectins-based antiviral tools to overcome these challenges. This collection will cover various aspects of lectin-virus interaction and emphasize recent advances in lectin research to understand the mechanism of glycan recognition by host lectins and subsequent immune activation. Furthermore, the collection will highlight recent advances in lectin engineering and the production of lectin-inspired materials, along with their potential application as antiviral therapeutics.
The scope of this Research Topic collection may include, but is not limited to:
• Structure and classification of host antiviral lectins, including animal, plant, and bacterial lectins
• Mechanisms of action of antiviral lectins in targeting viral glycans
• Lectin-based analytical tools (biosensors, microarrays)
• New age tools and strategies for enhancing the specificity of lectins towards virus glycans (1. Lectin engineering, 2. Artificial lectins of synthetic glycan-binding motifs, 3. Lectibodies)
A wide range of manuscript formats will be considered, including original research, brief research reports, methods, reviews, mini-reviews, perspectives, and communications.
Keywords: Glycomics, Glycoproteomics, Mass Spectrometry, Cancer, Virus
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.