Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans research

Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans are long, sugar-chain-bearing proteins that form a dense molecular scaffold outside and around cells, where they do far more than provide structural support. Molecules like hyaluronan and heparan sulfate interact directly with cell-surface receptors such as CD44 and Toll-like receptors to regulate how cells respond to growth signals, damage, and infection, while also shaping the synaptic remodeling that underlies learning and memory. Researchers are working to understand how the precise length and sulfation pattern of these sugar chains encode biological information, and how disruptions in that code contribute to cancer, chronic inflammation, and neurological disease. A central open question is how cells dynamically remodel this extracellular matrix in real time and how those changes are translated into altered signaling outcomes.

Works

64,036

Total citations

1,696,921

Keywords

HyaluronanProteoglycansHeparan SulfateCD44Cell SignalingGlycosaminoglycans