Abstract

The selectins are a family of cell-adhesion proteins that mediate the early stages of leukocyte recruitment from the blood stream to sites of tissue damage through recognition of the carbohydrate epitope sialyl Lewis-x (sLe-x). Current development of small molecule based inhibitors of this process and their clinical potential to address numerous acute and chronic diseases are explored.

Keywords: selectins, sialyl lewis, adhesion molecules, antagonist, mimetics, inflammation