{"doi":"10.1111/jnc.15098","title":"A sugar‐coated strategy to treat a rare neurologic disease provides a blueprint for a decoy glycan therapeutic and a potential vaccine for CoViD‐19","abstract":"In a rare neurologic disease known as IgM monoclonal gammopathy the immune system targets a sulfated trisaccharide known as the Human Natural Killer-1 (HNK-1) epitope that comprises a constituent of the myelin sheath known as MAG (myelin-associated glycoprotein). This Editorial highlights a study by Aliu and colleagues in the current issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry, in which the investigators constructed a biodegradable poly-l-lysine backbone with multiple copies of this sulfated HNK-1 trisaccharide. This decoy, poly(phenyl disodium 3-O-sulfo-β-d-glucopyranuronate)-(1→3)-β-d-galactopyranoside, known as PPSGG, removed anti-MAG IgM autoantibodies from the blood, while not activating the immune system. These findings provide a path for the selective removal of a pathogenic set of antibodies that target the myelin sheath resulting in neuropathy. These findings are applicable to a parallel strategy for the generation of polysaccharides similar to those present in the receptor-binding domain of CoViD-19, which might inhibit viral adhesion to its receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) protein, thereby impairing cellular uptake of the virus itself. The deployment of complex polysaccharides that mimic actual COVID19 polysaccharides on the spike protein may also provide a feasible structural basis for a vaccine. Carbohydrate mimics, if conjugated to a carrier or backbone, might provoke an immune response to the spike protein. A vaccine that targets critical carbohydrates on COVID19, and then neutralizes the virus would recapitulate a successful strategy employed in other microbial vaccines, like the pneumococcal vaccines and the meningococcal vaccines. These vaccines direct an immune response to complex carbohydrates and successfully prevent life-threatening disease. This paper provides lessons from a rare neurologic disease that may teach us strategies applicable to a global pandemic.","journal":"Journal of Neurochemistry","year":2020,"id":122263,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9609,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":490962,"name":"Lawrence Steinman","orcid":"0000-0002-2437-2250","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":9,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:14:51.076430Z","pmid":"32574379","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}