3.4.3 The situation of glycomics in TCM research
At present, the application of glycomics in the study of TCM state is still in its infancy, and there are still many problems to be solved.
  1. Because the research of glycomics requires high-throughput detection, the research cost is high, and the equipment cost is high, it is difficult for scientific research units to have sufficient funds to introduce related equipment for research.
  2. At present, in the study of TCM state, the application of glycomics is not much, and the data scale is not large, so it is difficult to form a complete database.
  3. The data sample size of glycomics is small, and the conclusion is not comprehensive, so it is difficult to interpret the material basis of TCM state as a whole.
  4. At present, there are few literatures on the study of TCM state through glycomics, and a large number of physiological state studies are needed as the background to establish the data model.4.Problems and prospects of Chinese glycomics researchStudies on the structure-activity relationship of glycans have shown that glycans often exhibit functional and structural overlap, that is, glycans of a certain structure may have many different functions due to different synthesis sites or binding substrates ; or conversely, several different polysaccharides with similar structures may produce the same function. Therefore, from the perspective of disease diagnosis, therapeutic drug and reagent development, the bottleneck hindering the transformation of glycan-based clinical applications mainly exists in the description framework of synthesis methods, analytical methods and biological functions. At the same time, the integration of the above three research methods is particularly important for elucidating the structure-activity relationship of glycans and developing innovative drugs and diagnostic reagents.4.1 Chinese glycan research needs more mature synthesis methods.At present, some progress has been made in the study of the function of glycosides by different means. However, unlike nucleic acids and proteins, sugar chains do not have synthetic templates. In organisms, the synthesis of glycans is produced by the synergy of biological synthetases, without the assistance or replication of templates, which is completely different from the synthesis of genes and proteins. Therefore, complex glycans cannot be synthesized by a simple amplification strategy. The existing glycan synthesis methods can only use chemical synthesis, enzyme catalytic cooperation and microbial synthesis. These methods have their own advantages, but they all have certain limitations. To carry out large-scale research on the efficacy of glycans, new low-cost and efficient synthesis techniques must be developed to easily obtain glycans for research.4.2 Chinese glycan research needs more perfect analytical methods.The diversity and complexity of the structural units, chemical bonds and spatial composition of glycans make it very challenging to analyze the composition and structure of glycans in vivo and in vitro. At present, mass spectrometry (imaging), high performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis (CE), chip, MR and orthogonal labeling are used to coordinate each other and take their own advantages to carry out comprehensive analysis of glycans, but they still often encounter the dilemma of blind people. For example, the study of N-glycosylation of a certain locus has proved to be difficult. Because two N-glycan sequences are located adjacent to each other and are separated by only one arginine residue. At different sites, trypsin decomposition produces peptide chains of different sizes and lengths, which cannot be effectively fragmented and detected in mass spectrometry. Because of its complexity, it also poses a serious challenge to software-based detection. In addition to techniques such as instrumental detection, bioinformatics algorithms and techniques for genomics and proteomics cannot be directly used in glycomics due to the complexity of glycan structure. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more perfect analytical methods under more disciplinary exchanges and teamwork, and to obtain the functional and structural relationships of glycans through innovative technologies and automated workflows[67].4.3 The elucidation of the biological function of glycans requires a new description framework.In organisms, glycans mainly function at the multicellular level and are mostly carried out in a multivalent interaction manner. If we use the classic in vitro cell model of the pharmaceutical industry, the screening method of small molecule lead compounds, and the screening method of polysaccharide binding agents with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1, it is possible to ignore the crucial information of the role of complex polysaccharides in the study of specific biological processes. For example, in the design of compounds that inhibit leukocyte homing and extravasation, it is necessary to consider both multivalence and structural complexity. Therefore, a new description framework for the biological function of glycans is another challenge to apply the results of glycan research to drug development.4.4 The study of Chinese glycans requires more in-depth international exchanges and cooperationGlycomics is a newly born discipline, and its development is still in its infancy. Basic research is not perfect, and research methods are relatively few. Up to now, there are only a few network tools and databases for glycomics, and the relevant data of each database cannot be shared due to the lack of consistent algorithms. These factors seriously limit the development of glycomics. Sugar chains have important biological functions and have shown attractive prospects in the prevention and treatment of tumors, AIDS and other stubborn diseases. The study of sugar chains will be related to the healthy development of all mankind, but its mechanism of action for these diseases is still unclear. The synergy of carbohydrates, such as the interaction between carbohydrates and proteins, carbohydrates and carbohydrates, is involved in many physiological and pathological processes. The adhesion between cells and the interaction between molecules involved in carbohydrates can be blocked by using the corresponding carbohydrate molecules, so that some physiological and pathological processes cannot occur. In-depth study of the role of sugar chains remains to be further explored from the level of molecular biology, which requires a lot of capital and talent investment. Only by different countries to jointly study and explore glycomics and continue to exchange cooperation and data sharing, can the mystery of glycomics be uncovered as soon as possible to achieve the health and safety of all mankind. It is believed that with the in-depth development of glycomics, the innovation of glycan analysis technology and the development of related instruments, there will be new breakthroughs and progress in glycomics research. In-depth study of glycoprotein or glycan structure and its mechanism of action is of great significance for revealing complex life phenomena, preventing and treating diseases.