Application of a human lectin array to rapid in vitro screening of sugars used as targeting tags for therapeutics

An increasing number of clinical applications employ oligosaccharides as tags to direct therapeutic proteins and RNA molecules to specific target cells. Current applications are focused on endocytic receptors that result in cellular uptake, but additional applications of sugar-based targeting in signaling and protein degradation are emerging. These approaches all require development of ligands that bind selectively to specific sugar-binding receptors, known as lectins. In the work reported here, a human lectin array has been employed as a predictor of targeting specificity of different oligosaccharide ligands and as a rapid in vitro screen to identify candidate targeting ligands. The approach has been validated with existing targeting ligands, such as a GalNAc cluster ligand that targets siRNA molecules to hepatocytes through the asialoglycoprotein receptor. Additional small oligosaccharides that can selectively target other classes of cells have also been identified and the potential of larger glycans derived from glycoproteins has been investigated. In initial screens, ligands for targeting either vascular or sinusoidal endothelial cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells have been identified. Lectin array screening has also been used to characterize the specificity of glycolipid-containing liposomes that are used as carriers for targeted delivery. The availability of a rapid in vitro screening approach to characterizing natural oligosaccharides and glycomimetic compounds has the potential to facilitate selection of appropriate targeting tags before undertaking more complex in vivo studies.