Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 14, Issue 4, 2007

The role of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), such as intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM- 1), vascular endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), E-selectin, and P-selectin, has been studied extensively in the process of inflammation. These molecules are responsible for recruiting leukocytes onto the vascular endothelium before extravasation to the injured tissues. Some circulating cancer cells have been shown to Read More

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and advantages stages are inevitably resistant to conventional therapeutic agents. In particular, the inability of undergo apoptosis in response to chemotherapy and other external stimuli poses a selective advantage for tumor progression, metastasis formation as well as resistance to therapy in melanoma. Herein, we will review the discovery of MDR transporte Read More

Hydrophobic interactions play a key role in the folding and maintenance of the 3-dimensional structure of proteins, as well as in the binding of ligands (e.g. drugs) to protein targets. Therefore, quantitative assessment of spatial hydrophobic (lipophilic) properties of these molecules is indispensable for the development of efficient computational methods in drug design. One possible solution to the problem lies in applic Read More

Over the last decade, much research has focused on the potential health benefits of antioxidants and indeed many synthetic and natural compounds have been evaluated for their antioxidant profile. However, in several studies only a limited number of assays, often poorly validated, are used and the techniques available frequently lack specificity. These limitations may incorrectly influence the results. This review will t Read More

A large number of molecules in the immune system are encoded by multigene families. These genes are rich in pairs of activating and inhibitory receptors that share the same ligands, thereby playing a crucial role in immunoregulation. Furthermore, multigene families tend to be highly polymorphic. Thus, multigene families are strong candidates for containing genes that enhance susceptibility to immune system-related Read More

The development of a new therapeutic drug is a complex, lengthy and expensive process. On average, only one out of 10,000 - 30,000 originally synthesized compounds will clear all the hurdles on the way to becoming a commercially available drug. The process of early and full preclinical discovery and clinical development for a new drug can take twelve to fifteen years to complete, and cost approximately 800 million doll Read More

Hydroxylation of the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan is carried out by a family of non-heme iron and tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) dependent enzymes, i.e. the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases (AAHs). The reactions catalyzed by these enzymes are important for biomedicine and their mutant forms in humans are associated with phenylketonuria (phenylalanine hydroxylase), Parkinso Read More

The essential nature of many metals is counterbalanced by the toxic effect that they can exert on both the eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell when not properly controlled. As such, virtually all organisms have developed regulatory systems that are required to maintain metal ion homeostasis. Helicobacter pylori is arguably the most successful bacterial pathogen in the world; the bacterium colonizes more than 50% of the world Read More

β-Carboline alkaloids are a large group of natural and synthetic indole alkaloids with different degrees of aromaticity, some of which are widely distributed in nature, including various plants, foodstuffs, marine creatures, insects, mammalians as well as human tissues and body fluids. These compounds are of great interest due to their diverse biological activities. Particularly, these compounds have been shown to intercalate i Read More

In our review by Tettamanti, et al. in Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2006, 13, 2737-2750, it has been brought to our attention that statements regarding the chromosomal localizations of chemokines were excessively generalized. Most CXC chemokines are localized to human 4q21, or 4q12-q13, curiously the widespread chemokine CXCL12 (SDF) is an exception being localized to 10q11.2. Many CC chemokines are localized to Read More