Cardiovascular & Hematological Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Cardiovascular & Hematological Agents) - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2010

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system plays a key role in the development of hypertension-related target organ damage. Nonetheless, compensatory increases in plasma renin levels that lead to adjustments in angiotensin production and conversion limit the potential benefits of both angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers. On the other hand, the ONTARGET trial reported that the c Read More

The development of the so-called “targeted therapies”, particularly those drugs that inhibit the activity of tyrosine kinases, has become a remarkable progress in the treatment of neoplastic diseases. The small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) imatinib has revolutionized the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, and trastuzumab, the humanized monoclonal antibody against the ERBB2 receptor tyrosine kina Read More

Serial IVUS has demonstrated significant differences in intimal hyperplasia (IH) volume between drug-eluting stent (DES) and bare metal stents (BMS) in recent clinical trials. It has also been reported that IVUS is a useful tool in determining optimal DES implantation, especially for diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. Recent data have also suggested a critical role for, IVUS guidance in reduction of risk for DES thrombosis. IVUS h Read More

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is more common in postmenopausal than premenopausal women, suggesting vascular protective effects of estrogen. Vascular estrogen receptors ERα, ERβ and a transmembrane estrogen-binding protein GPR30 have been described. Also, experimental studies have demonstrated vasodilator effects of estrogen on the endothelium, vascular smooth muscle and extracellular matrix. However, ran Read More

Many human diseases are characterized by vasculature disorders. Out of the many players in the angiogenic network, the vascular endothelial growth genes are by far the best characterized. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD) and in its complication, the acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Several common polymorphisms in the promoter reg Read More

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer represent respectively the first and second cause of death in industrialized countries. These two conditions may become synergistic when cardiovascular complications of anti-cancer therapy are considered. More than 70% of childhood and 50% of adult cancer patients can be cured, however this important success obtained by the biological and medical research is obfuscated by emergin Read More

An impressive amount of experimental evidence accumulated over the last two decades has clearly demonstrated that Ca2+ influx through plasma membrane Ca2+-permeable channels plays a critical role in endothelial cell physiology and pathophysiology. Research efforts aimed at understanding the role of Ca2+ influx within the signaling events underlying endothelial dysfunction have grown at a fast pace over mor Read More