Selectins—an emerging target for drug delivery

Selectins are multifunctional adhesion molecules that mediate the initial interactions between circulating leukocytes and cells of the endothelium. First identified over a decade ago, selectins have provided insight into areas as diverse as normal lymphocyte homing, leukocyte recruitment during inflammatory responses, carbohydrate ligand biosynthesis and adhesion-mediated signalling. Of late, selectins were introduced as targets for drug delivery in the development of new anti-inflammatory therapeutics and in anti-cancer therapy. This review will examine the selectins and their ligands with a focus on recent findings on their role in physiology and pathophysiology as well as the emerging role of selectins as targets in controlled drug delivery.