Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Allergy Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Allergy Agents) - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2006

Inflammatory reactions have attracted wide interest lately, as a consequence of their contribution to abnormalities additional to the long-established immune system-related diseases. The advancements in molecular biology and genomic/post-genomic sciences point to a comprehensive synthesis of information on the physiology and the pharmacological interventions of “inflammation-related” conditions. Read More

Understanding the way our body switches off host defence responses has yielded some of the most innovative recent discoveries in inflammation research. In reality the concept is not new, and was already implicit in early publications of the 1970s' which showed that during inflammation, glucocorticoids are increased in the circulation and that these protect the host from over-shooting and ensuing self-inflicted injury. Stem Read More

Histamine, which is known to play a role in most inflammatory conditions including allergy, asthma and autoimmune diseases, is a ubiquitous chemical messenger that has numerous functions. The inflammatory responses of histamine have long been believed to be mainly mediated by the histamine H1 receptor. Indeed the importance of histamine in the pathology of many diseases, like asthma, has been defined by whethe Read More

Mast cells (MCs) were first described by Paul Ehrlich as well fed granular cells that stain metachromatically. Today MCs are regarded as multifunctional, granulated, tissue-dwelling cells distributed in the perivascular spaces and connective tissues of every major organ of the body. Their long recognized phenotypic diversity might be associated not only with their anatomic distribution and mediator repertoire, but als Read More

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a structurally diverse group of similarly acting compounds that are widely prescribed and used for the management of pain associated with inflammatory conditions. Our present aim is to choose a leading drug for each class of NSAIDs, and to discuss the debated issues still pending about that drug, in order to weigh the risk/benefit ratio according to the current hypotheses on it Read More

Asthma is a common, chronic condition that is usually treated by the combination of inhaled steroids and β2 agonists on a when required basis. More recently, two further agents have been licensed for use: leukotriene receptor antagonists and very recently anti-IgE. This review describes a number of other possible treatment modalities. Some are well developed and already in Phase III clinical trials, others involve the use of Read More

Ocular allergies are one of the most common diseases presenting to the general ophthalmologist. Allergic eye disease includes a spectrum of different clinical entities: the seasonal and perennial allergic conjunctivitis and the more severe forms vernal keratoconjunctivitis and atopic keratoconjunctivitis. A wide spectrum of topical pharmacological agents has been developed for the treatment of the different forms of Read More

Ageing and inflammation might be considered as natural partners. Numerous mechanisms of an inflammatory basis for several age-associated diseases have been identified. Some markers of inflammation are already being integrated into clinical medicine. Furthermore, existent anti-inflammatory drugs and novel candidates have been found to specifically target inflammation pathways in the ageing processes. In this Read More

Along with advances in the genome sequencing and microarray technologies, many attempts have been made to understand the human diseases systemically. Here, literatures regarding genomic studies on allergic diseases are reviewed, especially by focusing on microarray-based transcriptome studies. In earlier patient-oriented transcriptome studies related to allergy and inflammation, only a few projects seem to Read More

Pharmacogenomics, a fascinating, emerging area of biomedical research is strongly influenced by growing availability of genomic databases, high-through-put genomic technologies, bioinformatic tools and artificial computational modeling approaches. Multinational clusters, such as the regional and internet-driven pharmaco-grids generated an entirely new environment for research and development in pharmacology. Al Read More