Lectin mediated biorecognition as a novel strategy for targeted delivery to bladder cancer.

Purpose: Inadequate urothelial delivery of drugs is considered a primary cause of current shortcomings in adjuvant intravesical chemotherapy for bladder cancer. We report what is to our knowledge a novel biorecognitive approach to achieve more regionally selective targeting of malignant tissue and improve urothelial uptake based on specific interaction between lectins and bladder cell glycocalyces.

Materials And Methods: We assessed the cytoadhesive and cytoinvasive potential of selected plant lectins in 3 human urothelial cell lines, corresponding to healthy tissue, and low and high grade carcinoma, respectively.