An insight into anti-inflammatory effects of natural polysaccharides

Inflammation is the first response of the body's immune system to injury, infection and stress. Chronic inflammation has close relationship with many diseases, such as arthritis, atherosclerosis and cancer. The traditional therapy strategy of inflammation mainly involves steroid and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, both of which have increasingly prominent side-effects which cannot be ignored. Polysaccharides extracted from natural sources have attracted extensive attention in recent years owing to their safety, accessibility and potent anti-inflammatory activities, but systematic introduction about their function in anti-inflammation is still absent. So here, we summarized the recent reports of natural polysaccharides with anti-inflammatory effects, mainly focusing on the various pharmacological mechanisms and targets involved. The structure-anti-inflammatory activity relationships are also discussed in detail. It is supposed that our review will benefit the understanding of the value of polysaccharides in anti-inflammation and further provide guidance for the development and application of novel anti-inflammatory agents in clinic.