Immunomodulatory Effect and Biological Significance of β-Glucans

Xuemei Zhong; Guoqing Wang; Fu Li; Sixian Fang; Siai Zhou; Akihiro Ishiwata; Alexander G Tonevitsky; Maxim Shkurnikov; Hui Cai; Feiqing Ding

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics15061615

Immunomodulatory Effect and Biological Significance of β-Glucans

Pharmaceutics. 2023 May 29;15(6):1615. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15061615.

Authors

Xuemei Zhong^{1

2}, Guoqing Wang¹, Fu Li³, Sixian Fang¹, Siai Zhou¹, Akihiro Ishiwata⁴, Alexander G Tonevitsky⁵, Maxim Shkurnikov⁵, Hui Cai¹, Feiqing Ding¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China.
² Medical College, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan 512026, China.
³ The Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518033, China.
⁴ RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako 351-0198, Saitama, Japan.
⁵ Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 117418, Russia.

Abstract

β-glucan, one of the homopolysaccharides composed of D-glucose, exists widely in cereals and microorganisms and possesses various biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-tumor properties. More recently, there has been mounting proof that β-glucan functions as a physiologically active "biological response modulator (BRM)", promoting dendritic cell maturation, cytokine secretion, and regulating adaptive immune responses-all of which are directly connected with β-glucan-regulated glucan receptors. This review focuses on the sources, structures, immune regulation, and receptor recognition mechanisms of β-glucan.

Keywords: adjuvants; dendritic cells; immune system; β-glucans.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22277150 to H.C.; No. 22007106 to Q.L.), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 22lglj10 to H.C.; No. 22qntd4601 to F.D.), the Province Natural Science Fund of Guangdong (No. 2022A1515011109 to H.C.; No. 2021A1515010189 to F.D.), and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20220530144415035 to L.F.).