Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.
Department of Animal Nutrition and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Front Immunol. 2020 Apr 22;11:658. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00658. eCollection 2020.
β-Glucans are a heterogeneous group of glucose polymers with a common structure comprising a main chain of β-(1,3) and/or β-(1,4)-glucopyranosyl units, along with side chains with various branches and lengths. β-Glucans initiate immune responses via immune cells, which become activated by the binding of the polymer to specific receptors. However, β-glucans from different sources also differ in their structure, conformation, physical properties, binding affinity to receptors, and thus biological functions. The mechanisms behind this are not fully understood. This mini-review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date commentary on the relationship between β-glucans' structure and function in relation to their use for immunomodulation.
β-葡聚糖是一组具有共同结构的葡萄糖聚合物，由主链β-(1,3)和/或β-(1,4)-葡萄糖吡喃基单元组成，以及具有各种分支和长度的侧链。β-葡聚糖通过免疫细胞引发免疫反应，这些免疫细胞通过聚合物与特定受体的结合而被激活。然而，不同来源的β-葡聚糖在结构、构象、物理性质、与受体的结合亲和力以及因此的生物学功能方面也存在差异。其背后的机制尚未完全了解。这篇迷你评论提供了关于β-葡聚糖结构与功能关系的全面和最新的评论，涉及它们在免疫调节中的应用。
