Engineered Sulfated Polysaccharides for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Sulfated polysaccharides are ubiquitous in living systems and have central roles in biological functions such as organism development, cell proliferation and differentiation, cellular communication, tissue homeostasis, and host defense. Engineered sulfated polysaccharides (ESPs) are structural derivatives not found in nature but generated through chemical and enzymatic modification of natural polysaccharides, as well as chemically synthesized oligo‐ and polysaccharides. ESPs exhibit novel and augmented biological properties compared with their unmodified counterparts, mainly through facilitating interactions with other macromolecules. These interactions are closely linked to their sulfation patterns and backbone structures, providing a means to fine‐tune biological properties and characterize structural–functional relationships by employing well‐characterized polysaccharides and strategies for regioselective modification. The following review provides a comprehensive overview of the synthesis and characterization of ESPs and of their biological properties. Through the pioneering research presented here, key emerging application areas for ESPs, which can lead to novel breakthroughs in biomedical research and clinical treatments, are highlighted.

Applications of infrared spectroscopy in polysaccharide structural analysis: Progress, challenge and perspective

“…Sulphated polysaccharides are a group of diverse polymers including natural heparin, carrageenan, fucoidan and some chemically synthetic sulphated polysaccharides ( Arlov et al, 2021 ). Three characteristic absorption bands at 1200–1270 cm −1 , 1010–1060 cm −1 and 900–800 cm −1 , corresponding to symmetric, asymmetric stretching of S O and stretching of C—O—S, respectively, can be used to confirm the attachment of sulfonyl groups to polysaccharides ( Caputo et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Like other biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins, polysaccharides are ubiquitous in almost all life forms in nature, and play essential roles in the existence and living activities of all known organisms ( Barbosa & de Carvalho Junior, 2021 ). In addition, owing to their outstanding structure features and functional properties, polysaccharides have been widely used in pharmaceutical ( Arlov, Rutsche, Korayem, Ozturk, & Zenobi-Wong, 2021 ), environmental ( Nasrollahzadeh, Sajjadi, Iravani, & Varma, 2021 ) and food industries ( Cui et al, 2021 ).…”

A Topologically Engineered Gold Island for Programmed In Vivo Stem Cell Manipulation

“…The optimal topological programmed ligands within nanoscale island FSA 35 R‐Ce IV promoted both integrin β1 occupancy and ligation, which subsequently activated focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and its phosphorylation (Figure S19) [51–53] . The phosphorylation of FAK further stimulated MAPK signaling pathway via upregulating p38, ERK1/2 and JNK expression [26, 54–56] . The activation of MAPK pathway mediated YAP/TAZ mechanotransduction, thereby initiating the downstream osteogenesis [57] .…”

Engineering strategies to achieve efficientin vitroexpansion of haematopoietic stem cells: development and improvement

“…4). 108 For coculture, a direct three-dimensional approach is no better than static suspension coculture. Because MSCs or UVECs can adhere to the dish, they have the advantage of subsequent cell isolation on culture plates.…”