Piperidine-based glycodendrons as protein N-glycan prosthetics

Abstract

The generation of homogeneously glycosylated proteins is essential for defining glycoform-specific activity and improving protein-based therapeutics. We present a novel glycodendron prosthetic which can be site-selectively appended to recombinant proteins to create ‘N-glycosylated’ glycoprotein mimics. Using computational modeling, we designed the dendrimer scaffold and protein attachment point to resemble the native N-glycan architecture. Three piperidine–melamine glycodendrimers were synthesized via a chemoenzymatic route and attached to human growth hormone and the Fc region of human IgG. These products represent a new class of engineered biosimilars bearing novel glycodendrimer structures.