Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 25, Issue 13, 2018

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a glycoprotein that belongs to the superfamily of serine protease inhibitors, serpins. It was first identified as a neuronal differentiating factor secreted by human retinal pigment epithelial cells, and then found to be the most potent inhibitor of pathological angiogenesis in mammalian eyes. Recently, PEDF has been shown not only to suppress oxidative stress and inflammatory r Read More

Background: Obese insulin-resistance is one of the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including ischemic heart disease (IHD). Growing evidences suggest that the susceptibility to myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is increased in an obese insulin-resistance condition. Based on the currently available evidence from human and animal studies, this review mainly focuses on the influence of obe Read More

Background: Diabetic Cardiomyopathy (DC) has been defined as a distinct entity characterized by the presence of diastolic or systolic cardiac dysfunction in a diabetic patient in the absence of other causes for Cardiomyopathy, such as coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension (HTN), or valvular heart disease. Diabetes affects every organ in the body and cardiovascular disease accounts for two-thirds of the mortality in th Read More

Background: Glomerular capillaries are lined with highly specialized fenestrated endothelium which are primarily responsible to regulate high flux filtration of fluid and small solutes. During filtration, plasma passes through the fenestrated endothelium and basement membrane before it reaches the slit diaphragm, a specialized type of intercellular junction that connects neighbouring podocytes. Methods: A PubMed search Read More

Background: Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficient activity of α -galactosidase A which leads to progressive intracellular accumulation of globotriaosylceramide in tissues and organs including heart, kidney, vascular endothelium, the nervous system, the eyes and the skin. Cardiac involvement is common, leads to fatal complications and is mainly responsible for reduced life expectancy in Read More

Statin intolerance is usually defined as the inability of a patient to tolerate statintreatment due to muscle-related complaints. While randomised trials show that these complaints occure with similar frequency in patients receiving placebo, namely in up to ~5% of the subjects, and data from registries as well as clinical experience indicate a much higher frequency of up to ~30%. The lack of standard definition or of a diagnosti Read More

It is known that Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Over the last years, one of the most discussed topics is the CV safety of anti-diabetic medications. Regarding CV safety of older antidiabetic agents the data are less clear and conclusions about their CV safety are mostly based on randomized controlled trials designed to assess their glucose lowering Read More

Elevated triglyceride levels (higher than ~1000 mg/dL) are associated with an increased risk for pancreatitis. Apolipoprotein-CIII (apoC-III) plays a key role in the metabolism of triglycerides and triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Loss of function mutations in the gene encoding apoC-III (APOC3) is associated with low triglyceride levels and a decreased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) while overexpression of APOC3 is associate Read More

Background: The aim of this review is to summarize the effects of various naturally occurring polyphenols in the management of metabolic dysfunctions. This cluster of metabolic abnormalities comprises insulin resistance, increased levels of free fatty acids, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, hyperglycemia and hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM) type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM) along with DM-induced complications Read More