The carbohydrates not only constitute the major components of life

but also are involved in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes

such as molecular recognition and cellular interactions. The biological functions of carbohydrate are achieved by specific interactions with proteins

playing an important role in signal transduction

cell adhesion

proliferation

differentiation

and inflammation and immunization. Besides the introduction of classification and mechanism for carbohydrate-protein interactions

this article briefly summarizes three main applications in biomedical field

including modification of nanoparticles with carbohydrate for drug delivery and gene transfection

formation of unique two- and three-dimensional supermolecular assemblies

and surface glycosylation to modulate protein adhesion and cell behaviors. More applications as intelligent biomaterials are expected to be explored in the future based on the carbohydrate- protein interactions.