Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Allergy Agents - Volume 4, Issue 3, 2005

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the oldest and most common type of arthritis characterized by the breakdown of joint cartilage. It affects middle-aged and older people, and can range from very mild to very severe. The cost of OA treatment in economy exceeds $100 billion per year in US. Research has proved that there are many factors causing OA; ageing, obesity, joint injuries, work-related activity, being the most known among other Read More

Osteoarthritis (sometimes called “arthrosis” or “osteoarthrosis”) often entails a slow and gradual deterioration of the joint that may sometimes lead to its total destruction and the need for an operation to replace it. However, for most patients with osteoarthritis, surgical treatment never becomes necessary, and their symptoms can be dealt with satisfactorily by self management, by non-pharmacological treatment or by Read More

Several chemical entities have been carefully investigated for the symptomatic and structural management of osteoarthritis. The most compelling evidence of a potential for inhibiting the structural progression of osteoarthritis has been obtained with glucosamine sulfate. At any rate, this compound has clearly demonstrated a symptomatic action, mainly in osteoarthritis of the lower limbs, on pain relief and improvement o Read More

The aim of this review is to illustrate the structural biology and functions of chondroitin sulphate (CS) in the light of recent glycobiological studies suggesting its new fundamental biological functions, and to evaluate the literature on CS concerning the pathobiology of osteoarthritis (OA), to ascertain whether this agent should be classified as a symptomatic slow-acting drug (SYSADOA), a compound that has a slow onset of a Read More

Osteoarthritis (OA) is by far the most prevalent arthritic disease affecting around 10% of the world's population and approximately 60% of 60-year-olds. It is also one of the most common arthritic diseases seen by general practitioners and rheumatologists. The increased frequency of OA with age, makes it a growing social health concern, as it is a disease associated with disability and pain. In the US today, the immediate cost Read More

Osteoarthritic joint disease is characterized by the progressive loss of articular cartilage resulting in functional impairment, pain and discomfort. The major components in cartilage, collagen and aggrecan, are lost during disease through the action of degradative proteolytic enzymes. The proteases responsible for aggrecan degradation are termed aggrecanases. The aggrecanases represent a family of enzymes with great Read More

Articular cartilage injuries and osteoarthritis are very frequent clinical problems for which no satisfactory treatment has been established yet. Therapeutic strategies aim at an inhibition of matrix degradation and/or the stimulation of cartilage anabolism in the diseased joint. In a number of studies, the administration of anti-catabolic or antiinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1Ra, sTNFαR, IL-4, IL-10 or IL-11 to joints affected Read More

Inflammation is the physiological protective response of the organism to stimuli ranging from a transient, self-limited and localized response to a complex, sustained response involving the whole organism. Inflammatory processes are characterized by the stimulation of humoral and cellular signaling systems and, as a result, mediators of inflammation, such as interleukins-1, and-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α are expressed a Read More

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is still the leading cause of death in men and women, despite our better understanding of the disease process. Atherosclerosis, the underlying pathological process that leads to CAD, was considered a disorder of lipid metabolism and deposition of lipid material in the vessel wall. Today however, it is viewed as an inflammatory disease and it is evident that inflammation is involved in ever Read More

Experimental models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have provided important information on the pathogenesis of this disease and tremendously helped in designing and testing some new treatment strategies. Every single step during the inflammatory process has been targeted to inhibit or induce a certain specific pathway. Among others, biologic therapy seems to be the most promising future therapy in IBD. Re Read More

IBD is now best considered as a group of genetic disorders of immune dysregulation with failure of downregulation of the intestinal mucosa's normal immune response to its intraluminal commensal bacterial milieu combined with inappropriate migration of antigenic material triggered by multiple host (appendectomy, pregnancy, breast feeding, age) and environmental factors (tobacco smoking, birth control pill, NSAIDS). Read More

Thymulin is a neuroendocrine hormone with immunoregulatory actions. Originally known as 'serum thymic factor' (FTS), thymulin binds to a carrier protein and zinc (Zn2+) to exert its biologic properties. Thymulin, albeit an essential hormone for the T lymphocyte differentiation and the normalization of the ratio of T-helper cells to suppressor cells, accumulating evidence suggests its involvement in inflammations of vario Read More

Behçet's disease is a chronic inflammatory systemic disorder, characterized by a relapsing and remitting course. The main histopathological finding is a widespread vasculitis of the arteries and veins of any size. The prevalence of BD is highest in the Middle East, Mediterranean region and Asia. The usual age of onset is around 30, and the male to female ratio varies with the ethnic background. The cause of BD remains unknown Read More