Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 15, Issue 6, 2008

Breast cancer is a common cause of tumors in women. The development of effective adjuvant therapies using drugs such as anthracyclines, taxanes, and aromatase inhibitors has improved the survival of breast cancer patients. Molecular cancer therapeutics are also attracting attention, and targeted molecular therapies, such as trastuzumab, have already contributed to effective new treatments for breast cancer. Other Read More

Neurodegenerative diseases do affect glial or neuronal cells in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Although they are characterized by different features and a different onset, all the neurodegenerative diseases share the final steps that lead to cell death by apoptosis. Apoptosis occurs also during developmental neurogenesis. Neuron survival and differentiation depend on specific neurotrophic factors released by Read More

The adaptor protein 3BP2 (c-Abl Src homology 3 domain-binding protein-2, also referred to SH3BP2) is known to play a regulatory role in signaling from immunoreceptors. In mast cells, 3BP2 is rapidly tyrosine phosphorylated by the aggregation of the high affinity IgE receptor and the overexpression of its SH2 domain results in the dramatic suppression of IgE-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilizat Read More

Proteomics has unraveled important questions in the biology of cardiovascular disease and holds even greater promise for the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. This approach may establish early detection strategies, and monitor responses to therapies. Technological advances (most notably blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, electrospray ionization, matrix- assisted laser des Read More

Inhibition of Cdc25 phosphatases is a strategy for the discovery and development of novel anticancer agents targeting the cell cycle. A number of potent small molecule Cdc25 inhibitors have been identified. They are derived from different chemical classes; the most potent and selective derivatives are quinones. The electrophilic properties of quinones suggest the possibility of inducing a sulphydryl arylation of a cysteine i Read More

Despite great advancement in the understanding of the pathophysiology and in the development of novel therapeutic approaches, mortality of sepsis still remains unacceptably high. Adequate laboratory diagnostics represents a major requirement for the improvement of this situation. For a better understanding of the immunological dysregulation in this disease, several markers are now available for routine diagnostics in the Read More

Despite recent advances in supportive care, acute lung injury (ALI) and its more severe form acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are clinical entities with high morbidity and high mortality. In systemic inflammation, like sepsis, uncontrolled host defense can lead to systemic activation of coagulation on the one hand, and attenuation of fibrinolysis on the other. In ALI/ARDS similar but local disturbances in fibrin Read More

Perturbations in the redox-based network of cellular regulatory mechanisms have been associated with oxidative-related diseases such as diabetes mellitus. In these situations the redox state of cellular redox systems becomes persistently shifted toward oxidation that may result in a sequence of pathophysiological events. Innate and adaptive immune responses depend on the production of reactive oxygen species and ATP synt Read More

In 1980, Espey proposed a famous hypothesis that mammalian ovulation is comparable to an inflammatory reaction and many researches have proved the validity of his hypothesis in the last three decades. For example, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and other inflammatory cytokines pres Read More

Much of our understanding and knowledge of human parturition has been blurred by conjecture and extrapolation. The limited available data on human parturition reflect the inability to directly experiment with pregnant human subjects. In spite of this obvious impediment and the scarcity of longitudinal data on fundamental physiological changes in human pregnancy, recent reports have generated a better understanding of t Read More

The need for non-invasive assessment of airway inflammation is imperative, since inflammatory airway diseases, such as asthma and COPD, are characterized by variation in their clinical presentation throughout their course. Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection represents a rather appealing method that can be used to conveniently and noninvasively collect a wide range of volatile and non-volatile molecules from th Read More