REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1671971
This article is part of the Research TopicImmunonutrition: The Role of Foods, Functional Ingredients and Dietary Patterns in Immune System ModulationView all articles
Regulatory Effects of Lycium Barbarum Polysaccharides on Immune Function and Their Application Prospects
Provisionally accepted
Jing Jin1*
Dan Li2- 1Jining First People's Hospital, Jining, China
- 2qilu medical university, Zibo, China
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Lycium barbarum, as a traditional medicinal plant, contains abundant bioactive components, particularly Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP), which demonstrate broad application prospects in immunomodulation, anti-aging, antioxidant, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. Recent years have witnessed significant progress in research on LBP's immunomodulatory effects, demonstrating its capacity to enhance immune function through regulating immune cell activities and suppressing inflammatory responses. LBP also exhibits notable preventive and therapeutic effects against various immune-related diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, hepatic encephalopathy, and diabetic nephropathy. Furthermore, as a natural prebiotic, LBP could modulate gut microbiota composition, improve intestinal health, and consequently exert systemic immunoenhancing effects. Despite its tremendous potential in disease prevention and treatment, LBP still faces certain limitations, particularly in extraction technologies and clinical research. This review summarizes recent advances in LBP's immunomodulatory research, with emphasis on its mechanisms of action, reveals its potential value and application prospects in immune regulation, and provides recommendations for future research and development.
Keywords: Lycium barbarum polysaccharides, Immunomodulation, anti-inflammatory activity, Molecular mechanisms, Functional Foods
Received: 23 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jin and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Jin, Jining First People's Hospital, Jining, China
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