Current Drug Targets - Volume 17, Issue 6, 2016

CD6 has been exploited as a drug target as its expression is restricted, primarily to T cells, it has a well characterised cell surface ligand, CD166 and regulates T cell activation through a long cytoplasmic tail. CD6 can affect both the initiation and maintenance of T cell function in a negative and positive manner respectively so that it is important to understand these dual effects of a potential drug target. The effective mode of act Read More

CD6 immunotherapy to treat psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis has reached the clinical trial stage with apparent success, and targeting CD6 with mAbs is being used in several animal models of autoimmunity and neuroinflammation with promising indications. However, the mode of action of the therapeutic CD6 mAbs is far from being understood, reflecting the uncertainties and controversy surrounding the mechanistic and bi Read More

CD6, one of the first antigens to be identified on T cells, is a membrane glycoprotein that physically associates with the antigen receptor complex. Because of this, its main function seems to involve the modulation of TCR-mediated signaling pathways. However, growing evidence indicates that this ancient and conserved scavenger-like receptor may also play a role as pattern recognition receptor (PRR), similar to other members Read More

The cell surface glycoprotein CD6 is expressed on leukocytes and mediates T cell trafficking across endothelial cell barriers. There is evidence suggesting that CD6 is implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). CD166, the physiological ligand of CD6, is expressed on endothelial cells in the central nervous system and in the collagen tissue of joints Read More

The CD6 molecule is a pan T cell marker involved in T cell regulation. Although CD6 expression has been correlated with human autoimmune diseases, only a few therapeutic approaches are exploring this molecule as target in the clinic. The biological functions and mechanisms of actions of CD6 have not been definitively established. It is probable that this molecule plays a dual role as a modulator of intracellular signaling. Read More

The global Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic is still spreading due to the lack of ideal anti-retroviral measures and their availability. Till date, all attempts to produce an efficient vaccine have ended with unsatisfactory results. The highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) is the only effective weapon currently available and is widely being used for curtailing the HIV pandemic. However, the HAART is also expected Read More

Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are a valuable prognostic factor in several solid tumors. By understanding the biological characteristics of CTCs we could better understand the biology of metastasis. CTCs usually adopt a dormant state that is believed to be a strategy to survive in extreme conditions. To enter a dormant state, CTCs undergo numerous phenotypic, genetic and functional mutations that significantly affect the Read More

The increasing multi-drug resistance has become a major threat to the public health. Overexpression of multidrug efflux pumps is one of the major mechanisms of drug resistance in bacteria. Since active efflux of antibacterial agents plays a significant role in mediating drug resistance in bacteria, the inhibition of efflux pumps appears to be a promising strategy to restore antibacterial potency. In recent years, in order to a Read More

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a relatively new polymer for the construction of drug delivery systems. CD44 and the receptor for HA-mediated motility play a key role in vivo for the receptormediated endocytosis of HA. Cellular uptake and the efficiency of tumor-targeted drug delivery are supposed to increase through utilizing HA as drug carriers. Currently, HA has provided a promising platform to physically encapsulate or chemically c Read More

The global situation of antibiotic resistance and the reduction of investments in antibiotics research by the pharmaceutical industry suggest the need for specific cost-effective approaches in order to identify drugs for the therapy of many microbial infections. Among the viable alternative antiinfective compounds, drug repurposing, i.e. to find new uses for previously approved medicines, revealed some encouraging in vitro Read More

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both sexes in the United States and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. Over the last several decades, there have been many advances in both surgical approaches and systemic therapies for the treatment of NSCLC, but the prognosis for advanced disease remains poor. New research, however, is exploring the use of targe Read More