Liposomes Containing Ligands: Binding Specificity to Selectins

Carbohydrate-binding proteins have attracted much attention as they are often considered to be mediators of specific cell adhesion (1 –5 ). It has been suggested that the neutrophils utilize at least three types of adhesion molecules for homing to the sites of inflammation. These are members of the lectinepidermal growth factor-complement related-cell adhesion molecule (LECCAM), integrin, and Ig gene superfamilies (6 ,7 ). The LEC-CAM family of adhesion molecules has recently been recognized to play a central role in mediating leukocyte-endothelial cell interaction. The term selectin is now commonly used to represent three members of this LEC-CAM family: L-, E-, and P-selectin. The lectin character of these cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) makes the selectin family unique among all the known CAM families (8 –10 ).