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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.

Category

Academic literature review

Language

English

Author(s)

  • Øystein Arlov
  • Dominic Rütsche
  • Maryam Asadi Korayem
  • Ece Öztürk
  • Marcy Zenobi-Wong

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Biotechnology and Nanomedicine
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich
  • Koç University

Year

2021

Published in

Advanced Functional Materials

ISSN

1616-301X

Volume

31

Issue

19

Page(s)

1 - 52

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository