现代化和生活方式的改变导致了许多疾病，包括癌症，需要复杂而彻底的治疗。最重要的疗法之一是使用抗生素和药物。这被称为癌症化疗，是一种经常使用的治疗计划，其中使用的药物具有负面副作用。这导致人们对能够在较长时间内将药物输送到特定目标的材料进行了广泛的研究。生物聚合物通常被优选作为有效的药物递送载体。其中，β-葡聚糖是一种天然多糖，尽管其具有独特的性质，但作为药物输送载体尚未得到广泛研究。本综述讨论了 β-葡聚糖的来源、提取技术、结构和特性，以提供概述。此外，本文还详细阐述了将药物封装到 β-葡聚糖中的不同方法及其作为有效药物、SiRNA 和质粒 DNA 载体的作用。基于β-葡聚糖的特异性靶向和改变肿瘤相关巨噬细胞、诱导免疫反应并最终抑制肿瘤的能力已得到详细阐述。最后，本研究旨在通过彻底描述 β-葡聚糖的许多特性并证明其作为药物输送载体的有效性，促进对 β-葡聚糖的进一步研究。© 2024。控释协会。

Modernization and lifestyle changes have resulted in a number of diseases, including cancer, that require complicated and thorough treatments. One of the most important therapies is the administration of antibiotics and medicines. This is known as chemotherapy for cancer, and it is a regularly utilised treatment plan in which the medications used have negative side effects. This has resulted in extensive research on materials capable of delivering pharmaceuticals to particular targets over an extended period of time. Biopolymers have often been preferred as effective drug delivery carriers. Of these, β-glucan, a natural polysaccharide, has not been extensively studied as a drug delivery carrier, despite its unique properties. This review discusses the sources, extraction techniques, structures, and characteristics of β-glucan to provide an overview. Furthermore, the different methods employed to encapsulate drugs into β-glucan and its role as an efficient drug, SiRNA and Plasmid DNA carrier have been elaborated in this article. The capacity of β-glucan-based to specifically target and alter tumour-associated macrophages, inducing an immune response ultimately resulting in tumour suppression has been elaborated. Finally, this study aims to stimulate further research on β-glucan by thoroughly describing its many characteristics and demonstrating its effectiveness as a drug delivery vehicle.© 2024. Controlled Release Society.