THE SELECTINS AND THEIR LIGANDS

The selectins are a family of carbohydrate-binding proteins, or lectin s, that have stimulated tremendous interest because of their involveme nt in a wide array of interactions between leukocytes and endothelial cells. Highlights of recent progress include an extension of the list of instances of selectin participation in inflammatory diseases, furth er definition of selectin carbohydrate specificities, and identificati on of their carbohydrate-based ligands.