Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 17, Issue 27, 2010

The progressive production and subsequent accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ), a proteolytic fragment of the membrane-associated amyloid precursor protein (APP), plays a central role in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Aβ is released in a soluble form that may be responsible for cognitive dysfunction in the early stages of the disease, then progressively forms oligomeric, multimeric and fibrillar aggregates, triggering neuro Read More

Osteoporosis is characterized by reduced bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue leading to enhanced bone fragility and a consequent increase in fracture risk. Bone loss further increases in postmenopausal women when the ovaries stop making estrogens. Women undergoing treatment for osteoporosis require long-term dosing therapeutic regimens, that offer no symptomatic relief, and may cause Read More

The endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are angiogenic cells having properties similar to those of embryonal angioblasts. The number and function of EPCs are affected by a variety of conditions, including cytokines and chemokines, which are pivotal inflammatory signaling molecules. The purpose of this paper is to review current knowledge about the role of these progenitor in different vascular diseases, emphasizing the i Read More

The renaissance of cell- or organism-based phenotypic assays has made subsequent target identification for bioactive small organic molecules an important aspect of current drug discovery. Among the many strategies available for target identification, derivatizing bioactive small molecules into activity-based probes has the main advantage of determining small molecule-protein interactions directly in the native environment Read More

Hyperthermia (HT) - heating the tumor in the range of 40.0- 44.0 °C - combined with radiation (RT) and/or chemotherapy (CT) is a well proven treatment for malignant tumors. The improvement of the techniques for monitoring and adapting of the desired temperatures even in deep seated tumors has led to a renaissance of, now quality-controlled, HT in multimodal tumor therapy approaches. Randomized clinical trials have Read More

Protein aggregation is a key mechanism involved in neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Nine diseases (including Huntington's) arise from polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion above a repeat threshold of approximately 37 glutamines, and neuronal toxicity correlates with the process of protein aggregation. The similar toxic gain-of-function mechanism of the nine diseases s Read More

Background: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive disease that is diagnosed mostly in locally advanced or metastatic stage. In this condition chemotherapy with the combination cisplatin and pemetrexed or ralitrexed represents the standard treatment as supported by a phase III study. However, chemotherapy has very limited effect on the improvement of survival of patients and very few of the MM patients sur Read More

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the glycolipid of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, is critically involved in health and diseases. LPS facilitates the survival of pathogens by imposing a permeability barrier against antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides. LPS, also termed as endotoxin, functions as a potent inducer of innate immunity. Interception of endotoxin in systemic circulation by immune cells e.g. macr Read More

The myriads of molecular pathways that have been measured to understand the physical bases of neuronal and other cellular functions have exceeded classical comprehension. In the tradition of Bohr and Schrodinger, the hypothesis is developed that molecular pathways are simply epiphenomenal transports of quanta with increments in the order of 10-20 J. Experimental measurements of photon emissions from cell Read More

Tuberculosis is still a leading cause of death in developing countries and a resurgent disease in developed countries. The selection and soaring spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant strains (XDR-TB) is a severe public health problem. Currently, there is an urgent need of new drugs for tuberculosis treatment, with novel mechanisms of action and, moreover, t Read More

Homocysteine, a sulphur-containing amino acid derived from methionine, has been presented as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disorders, including atherosclerosis and thrombogenesis. The mechanisms underlying homocysteine-induced effects have been intensively investigated over the last two decades. Homocysteine can induce oxidative stress promoting oxidant injury to vascular and blood cells. H Read More

During this past decade, science and engineering have seen a rapid increase in interest for nanoscale materials with dimensions less than 100 nm, which lie in the intermediate state between atoms and bulk (solid) materials. Their attributes are significantly altered relative to the corresponding bulk materials as they exhibit size dependent behavior such as quantum size effects (depending on bulk Bohr radius), optical absorption Read More