| Abstract: | A review is given of facts relating to the search for and study of bioglycan immunomodulators which are polysaccharides and glycoconjugates of natural origin and possess the capacity for stimulating or inhibiting the immunity of Man and animals to various diseases. The structural-chemical characteristics and biological properties of the following classes of bioglycan immunomodulators are discussed: bacterial lipopolysaccharides and peptidoglycans of marine organisms. Particular attention is devoted to marine invertebrates as an important source of active bioglycan immunomodulators. On the basis of information that has been accumulated on this question, it is suggested that the capacity for producing bioglycans with pronounced immunostimulating activity is a common property of marine invertebrates.Review lecture at the VIIth All-Union Conference on the Chemistry and Biochemistry of Carbohydrates, Pushchino-on-Oka, 1982.Pacific Ocean Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Scientific Center, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Vladivostok. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 675–694, November–December, 1983. |
