Drug delivery systems based on sugar-macromolecule conjugates.

The specificity of carbohydrate-protein interactions can greatly outstrip that of many other ligand-binding systems; such is the enormous density of information that sugars can convey. In addition, macromolecules allow for the fine-tuning of active drug delivery through their great ability to undergo site-specific modification and their inherent physicochemical properties. Once combined, these two factors suggest that sugar-macromolecule conjugates, targeted using endogenous carbohydrate binding proteins, are a promising route to the 'magic bullet'.