Research progress on glycoproteins in traditional Chinese medicine
Glycoproteins refer to a class of binding proteins formed by covalent connections between oligosaccharides and polypeptide chains, which are widely present in plants, animals, and microorganisms. In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research on glycoproteins, and many studies have found that they have significant medicinal and health benefits, such as immune regulation, antioxidant, anti fatigue, anti-tumor, etc., attracting researchers from many disciplines including chemistry, biology, cell biology, food science, etc. to engage in research in this field. This has also attracted the attention of scholars in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. Many scholars have conducted relevant research on some Chinese medicinal materials, such as astragalus, wolfberry, ground beetle beetle, and have made certain achievements. This article provides an overview of the research on traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins in recent years, aiming to provide reference for the study of the material basis of traditional Chinese medicine and the development of glycoprotein drugs

At present, research on traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins not only faces problems such as complex enrichment and purification processes, inability to adapt to large-scale production, insufficient structural research, and unclear factors affecting pharmacological activity, but also other issues. For example, as mentioned earlier, the pharmacological activity of certain traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins may be stronger than the commonly recognized effective ingredients, which are important foundations for the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, for many traditional Chinese medicine materials without clear indicator components as quality evaluation standards, can glycoproteins become one of the evaluation indicators for their quality standards? However, there are few reports on the comparison between traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins and commonly recognized active ingredients, as well as related research on quality evaluation using glycoproteins as indicators. In addition, there have been no reports on whether the processing or compatibility of traditional Chinese medicine clinical drugs will cause changes in the content or structure of glycoproteins, and whether changes in glycoproteins are related to changes in drug efficacy.

Although there are still many problems and difficulties in the research of traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins, the study of traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins is undoubtedly of great significance: in addition to providing new ideas for basic research of traditional Chinese medicine, it can also provide reference for the development of new traditional Chinese medicine drugs. As mentioned earlier, the immunosuppressive effect of Astragalus membranaceus glycoprotein has the advantages of less toxic side effects and bidirectional regulation compared to commonly used immunosuppressants; The glycoprotein of the Chinese softshell beetle, which has a good inhibitory effect on neovascularization, may be used as an anti angiogenic drug in the clinical treatment of tumors; Traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins with α – glucosidase inhibitory effects have the advantages of broad pharmacological effects and milder effects. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine glycoproteins, as multi-target, highly effective, and low toxicity active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine, provide reference for new drug development and have broad application prospects.