Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2010;93:373-94. doi: 10.1016/S1877-1173(10)93016-0.
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are complex carbohydrates that are expressed ubiquitously and abundantly on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix (ECM). The extraordinary structural diversity of GAGs enables them to interact with a wide variety of biological molecules. Through these interactions, GAGs modulate various biological processes, such as cell adhesion, proliferation and migration, ECM assembly, tissue repair, coagulation, and immune responses, among many others. Studies during the last several decades have indicated that GAGs also interact with microbial pathogens. GAG-pathogen interactions affect most, if not all, the key steps of microbial pathogenesis, including host cell attachment and invasion, cell-cell transmission, systemic dissemination and infection of secondary organs, and evasion of host defense mechanisms. These observations indicate that GAG-pathogen interactions serve diverse functions that affect the pathogenesis of infectious diseases.
糖胺聚糖（GAGs）是广泛表达且丰富存在于细胞表面和细胞外基质（ECM）中的复杂碳水化合物。GAGs 的非凡结构多样性使它们能够与各种生物分子相互作用。通过这些相互作用，GAGs 调节多种生物过程，如细胞黏附、增殖和迁移、ECM 组装、组织修复、凝血和免疫反应等。过去几十年的研究表明，GAGs 也与微生物病原体相互作用。GAG-病原体相互作用影响微生物发病机制的大多数（如果不是全部）关键步骤，包括宿主细胞附着和入侵、细胞间传播、系统传播和感染次级器官以及逃避宿主防御机制。这些观察结果表明，GAG-病原体相互作用具有多种功能，影响传染病的发病机制。
