ABSTRACT
Their importance as nutrients has historically been the focus of research on carbohydrates. The importance of carbohydrate moieties as components of glycoconjugates-glycoproteins, glycolipids, mucins, and structural polymers-has become increasingly apparent. Examples include carbohydrate moieties as critical determinants of protein transport within cells and of cell homing within tissues of the body. The carbohydrate components of glycoproteins influence protein function, conformation, stability, and half-life in vitro and in vivo and function as important components of receptors in signal transduction pathways. Glycolipids and carbohydrate matrix components are important in a variety of biological systems such as the nervous system with regard to myelin formation and directed neuronal growth and in B cells and other types of cells as regulatory components of signal transduction pathways (epidermal growth factor, interferon-alpha, apoptosis, and antiviral pathways), cell adhesion pathways (selectin systems, CD19-CD77 interaction), and potentially other immune functions such as antigen presentation.
