The structure–activity relationships of natural glucans

In recent years, glucan has become one of the hotspots in life science research. It is widely concerned because of its advantages, such as good immune regulation, antitumor, antivirus, hypoglycemic and lipid‐lowering effects, antioxidation, antiaging, low toxicity, and high efficiency. At present, there are still two problems in the pharmacodynamics of glucans. Firstly, compared with other drugs used in clinic, most of the glucans still lack information about the mechanism of action between glucans and corresponding ligands in vivo. Secondly, the research on the structure–activity relationship of glucans is still slow. Herein, the structure–activity relationships of glucans were reviewed. The relationship between structure and biological activity is very important for the development of new glucan drugs.