There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Selectins are carbohydrate-binding molecules that bind to fucosylated and sialylated
glycoprotein ligands, and are found on endothelial cells, leukocytes and platelets.
They are involved in trafficking of cells of the innate immune system, T lymphocytes
and platelets. An absence of selectins or selectin ligands has serious consequences
in mice or humans, leading to recurrent bacterial infections and persistent disease.
Selectins are involved in constitutive lymphocyte homing, and in chronic and acute
inflammation processes, including post-ischemic inflammation in muscle, kidney and
heart, skin inflammation, atherosclerosis, glomerulonephritis and lupus erythematosus.
Selectin-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, recombinant soluble P-selectin glycoprotein
ligand 1 and small-molecule inhibitors of selectins have been tested in clinical trials
on patients with multiple trauma, cardiac indications and pediatric asthma, respectively.
Anti-selectin antibodies have also been successfully used in preclinical models to
deliver imaging contrast agents and therapeutics to sites of inflammation. Further
improvements in the efficiency, availability, specificity and pharmacokinetics of
selectin inhibitors, and specialized application routes and schedules, hold promise
for therapeutic indications.