Abstract
The human genome project has provided biology and medicine with tremendous resources. The field of glycobiology is no exception. During recent years, we glycobiologists have actively incorporated gene-engineering techniques into our methodology. An amazing fact of gene engineering technology is that DNA and recombinant proteins can be amplified unlimitedly, an approach opposite to that of old-fashioned biochemistry, in which we started an experiment with large amounts of material and ended up with a very small amount of purified sample. Nonetheless, although we can now produce recombinant glycosyltransferases, we cannot produce the carbohydrate itself. In this regard, peptide-displaying phage is worth being recognized as the method breaking this dilemma, by being equivalent to produce recombinant carbohydrates as this technology can amplify specific oligosaccharide mimicries. This mini review describes pioneering works introducing peptide-displaying phage to glycobiology and potential applications of carbohydrate-mimicking peptides to cancer research.
