Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 12, Issue 22, 2006

Cell adhesion molecules form a large group of proteins that perform several functions. These adhesion molecules can be broadly divided into families on the basis of their structure, function and duration of cell-cell interactions. A majority of adhesion molecules can be grouped into integrins, cadherins, selectins and immunoglobulin superfamilies. Modulation of cell adhesion is essential to inhibit tumor metastasis, sup Read More

Integrins constitute an important class of cell adhesion receptors responsible not only for cell-matrix adhesion but also for signaling bidirectionally across the membrane. Integrins are involved in many biological processes such as angiogenesis, thrombosis, inflammation, osteoporosis and cancer. Integrins thus play a key role in many severe human diseases. In this review we will describe recent research and development Read More

Integrins are a family of heterodimeric receptors, which modulate many cellular processes including: growth, death (apoptosis), adhesion, migration, and invasion by activating several signaling pathways. Integrin-binding RGD (arginine- glycine-aspartic acid) is found in several important extracellular matrix proteins which serve as adhesive integrin ligands. The RGD motif has also been found in many toxins from snake ve Read More

Over the past decade, Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 (LFA-1,αLβ2, CD11a/CD18) has emerged as an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of multiple inflammatory diseases. Its established role in the trafficking and activation of leukocytes coupled with the recent elucidation of the global conformational changes that govern its function continue to drive pharmaceutical interest in this target. This su Read More

Adhesion molecules participate in many stages of immune response; they regulate leukocyte circulation, lymphoid cell homing to tissues and inflammatory sites, migration across endothelial cells and T-cell stimulation. During Tcell immune response, adhesion molecules form a specialized junction between T-cell and the antigen presenting cell. Thus, many researchers have focused their attention on targeting adhesion mol Read More

The delivery of large hydrophilic molecules (i.e., peptides and proteins) across biological barriers has been hampered by the presence of tight junctions. This delivery process can be improved by enhancing permeation through intercellular junctions of the intestinal mucosa and blood-brain barriers. This is achieved by modulating the intercellular junctions of these biological barriers. To modulate intercellular junctions, it is ne Read More

Inflammatory responses in all tissue compartments require the emigration of leukocytes from the microvasculature through endothelial cells into the respective microenvironment. Adhesion to endothelial cells is the most crucial step in order to facilitate selective and effective capture of leukocytes. The sequence of adhesions events, e.g. rolling, tethering, and firm adhesion are tightly regulated by a variety of molecules e Read More

Cellular adhesion molecules are critical components during carcinogenesis and cancer metastasis and contribute to the mechanisms underlying resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Since drug resistance is associated with a very poor prognosis for patients with cancer, a better understanding of the role of adhesion molecules could improve patient outcome by identifying novel mechanisms that promote drug res Read More

The quest for therapeutic specificity is implicit in all branches of medicine. In cancer treatment, cytotoxic agents, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, comprise the current therapeutic modality. Unfortunately, when used against most solid malignancies, their therapeutic indices are relatively low due to the significant damage they inflict on normal tissues. Furthermore, cure rates have remained essentially static over Read More