In recent decades the significant spread of fungal diseases has become a serious global problem. The mortality rate from fungal infections in the world is comparable to that of tuberculosis or malaria and already amounts several million cases per year. Due to the high mortality rate and the absence of specific clinical manifestations, the most important requirement for the successful treatment of mycoses is their early diagnosis. However, the enzyme immunoassay systems currently present on the market have certain drawbacks.
Information about the fine carbohydrate specificity of diagnostic antibodies is the basis for understanding the origin of false-positive and false-negative results and for improving the existing diagnostic tools. The development of effective methods for stereospecific synthesis of oligosaccharides allows us to create thematic libraries of ligands corresponding to the main polysaccharides of the cell wall of pathogenic fungi. These compounds and conjugates thereof are a powerful tool for the generation, selection and analysis of monoclonal antibodies. This approach allowed us to review the carbohydrate specificity of a number of known monoclonal antibodies and obtain new antibodies that recognize a given epitope, which is necessary for the development of new a generation of diagnostic tools.