Lectins, which can specifically recognize sugar molecules and bind the glycosylated nasal mucosa, have been introduced into bioadhesive delivery systems to improve drug absorption on nasal mucosa. Odorranalectin (OL), with a molecular weight of only 1700 Da, was recently identified as the smallest lectin with much less immunogenicity than other members of the lectin family by the research team supervised by Prof. Lai Ren from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (Odorranalectin is a small peptide lectin with potential for drug delivery and targeting.PLoS One. 2008 ;3:e2381.)

Recently, the research team headed by Prof. Lai Ren made collaboration with Prof. Jiang xingguo from FuDan University and Prof. Huang Liang from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. In order to improve nose-to-brain drug delivery and reduce the immunogenicity of traditional lectin modified delivery system, OL was conjugated to poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)(PEG–PLGA) nanoparticles and its biorecognitive activity on nanoparticles was verified by haemagglutination tests. The result shows the OL-NPs could be potentially used as carriers for nose-to-brain drug delivery, especially for macromolecular drugs, in the treatment of CNS disorders, such as Parkinson's disease.

This work is recently published in Journal of Controlled Release，2011 Feb 26, the title:(Odorranalectin-conjugated nanoparticles: Preparation, brain delivery and pharmacodynamic study on Parkinson's disease following intranasal administration)