Background The global crisis caused by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, better known as COVID-19, brought the need to improve the population's immunity. The foods rich in polysaccharides with immunomodulation properties are among the most highly rated to be used as immune response modulators. Thus, the use of polysaccharides obtained from food offers an innovative strategy to prevent serious side effects of viral infections. Scope and approach This review revisits the current studies on the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2, its characteristics, target cell interactions, and the possibility of using polysaccharides from functional foods as activators of the immune response. Several natural foods are explored for the possibility of being used to obtain polysaccharides with immunomodulatory potential. And finally, we address expectations for the use of polysaccharides in the development of potential therapies and vaccines. Key findings and conclusions The negative consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic across the world are unprecedented, thousands of lives lost, increasing inequalities, and incalculable economic losses. On the other hand, great scientific advances have been made regarding the understanding of the disease and forms of treatment. Polysaccharides, due to their characteristics, have the potential to be used as potential drugs with the ability to modulate the immune response. In addition, they can be used safely, as they have no toxic effects, are biocompatible and biodegradable. Finally, these biopolymers can still be used in the development of new therapies and vaccines.

Polysaccharides obtained from natural edible sources and their role in modulating the immune system: Biologically active potential that can be exploited against COVID-19

Advances in anti-cancer effects and underlying mechanisms of marine algae polysaccharides.

Polysaccharides are usually composed of more than ten monosaccharide units, which are connected by linear or branched glycosidic bonds. The immunomodulatory effect of natural polysaccharides is one of the most important bioactive function. In this review, molecular weight, monosaccharide (including galactose, mannose, rhamnogalacturonan-I arabinogalactan and uronic acid), functional groups (namely sulfate, selenium, and acetyl groups), types of glycoside bond connection (including β-1,3-D-glucosyl, α-1,4-D-glucosyl, β-1,4-D-glucosyl, α-1,6-D-glucosyl, β-1,4-D-mannosyl, and β-1,4-D-Xylopyranosyl), conformation and the branching degrees are systematically identified as their contribution to the immunostimulatory activity of polysaccharides. At present, studies on the structure-activity relationships of polysaccharides are limited due to their low purity and high heterogeneity. However, it is an important step in providing useful guidance for dietary supplements with polysaccharides. The chemical structures and the process of immune responses induced are necessary to be discussed. Polysaccharides may bind with the cell surface receptors to modulate immune responses. This review mainly discusses the structure-activity relationship of dietary polysaccharides. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crfs.2022.08.016

Structure–immunomodulatory activity relationships of dietary polysaccharides

Antitumor effect of soluble β-glucan as an immune stimulant.

Fucoidan, as an immunostimulator promotes M1 macrophage differentiation and enhances the chemotherapeutic sensitivity of capecitabine in colon cancer.

A β-1,3/1,6-glucan from Durvillaea Antarctica inhibits tumor progression in vivo as an immune stimulator.

A β-glucan composition and a use therefor. Specifically provided are uses of the β-glucan composition in preparing a composition for improving or treating immune-related diseases, said β-glucan being a β-glucan containing β-1,3 and β-1,6 glucosidic bonds in the molecules thereof, and having a molecular weight of 1-50 kDa. The β-glucan features a novel structure, a controllable mass, abundant sources, simple preparation processing, high product purity, strong biological activity, and is easy to produce industrially, among other strengths. The resulting water-soluble β-glucan composition features better anti-tumor activity, has the potential to be developed into a safe and effective novel drug for improving or treating immune-related diseases and fighting tumors.

β-GLUCAN COMPOSITION AND USE THEREFOR

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Qu Xianjun

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

A β-1,3/1,6-glucan from Durvillaea Antarctica inhibits tumor progression in vivo as an immune stimulator.

β-GLUCAN COMPOSITION AND USE THEREFOR