Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 13, Issue 12, 2007

About three years ago we discussed in this Journal the development of additional potential applications of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and of Angiotensin II (ANG II) receptor blockers in therapy. The deployment of these drugs in the treatment of diverse vascular conditions has been, for many years, a well established medical practice and every year millions of individuals benefit from this treatment. This successful de Read More

The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) I/D polymorphism has been one of the most studied genetic systems. It comprises hundreds of reports and a myriad of disease associations, including cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, cancer, aging, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Despite the wealth of information on the ACE polymorphism and the well-known functions of ACE, several questions arise. Why does the Read More

Effective blood pressure control with a large arsenal of conventional antihypertensive drugs, such as diuretics, beta-adrenergic blockers, and calcium channel blockers, significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. However, blood pressure control with these drugs does not reduce cardiovascular disease risks to the levels in normotensive persons. Only two drug classes that inhibit o Read More

Decades of experimentation on angiotensin and bradykinin have focused on macrovascular systemic effects. However, angiotensin II and bradykinin are both angiogenic agents, highlighting their ability to also effect the microvascular circulation. Not surprisingly, inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme, which inhibits angiotensin II synthesis and bradykinin degradation, would have different impacts on angiogenesis in Read More

The implication of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the regulation of the cardiovascular system has been well known for many years. Accordingly, many pharmaceutical inhibitors have been developed to treat several pathologies, like hypertension and heart failure, and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) became one of the major target in the treatment of these cardiovascular diseases. In the last decade however Read More

Angiotensin II (ANGII) has been identified as a proapoptotic and profibrotic factor in experimental lung fibrosis models, and patients with the ID/DD polymorphism of ANG converting enzyme (ACE), which confers higher levels of ACE, are predisposed to lung fibrosis (Hum. Pathol. 32:521-528, 2001). Previous work from this laboratory has shown that human lung myofibroblasts isolated from patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fi Read More

Apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) is believed to be critical for the development of bleomycin (BLEO)-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Previous studies showed that apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells in response to BLEO could be abrogated by antisense oligonucleotides against angiotensinogen (AGT) mRNA and requires angiotensin II (ANG II) synthesis de novo [17]. In this study we hypothesized that blockade of l Read More

Nicotine, the major psychoactive agent present in tobacco, acts as a potent addictive drug both in humans and laboratory animals, whose locomotor activity is also stimulated. A large body of evidence indicates that the locomotor activation and the reinforcing effects of nicotine may be related to its stimulatory effects on the mesolimbic dopaminergic function. Thus, it is now well established that nicotine can increase in v Read More

Human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) is associated with a number of human diseases. Although the mechanism by which the virus causes diseases is still not known, studies indicate that viral replication is critical for the development of HTLV-1 associated myelopathy, and initial studies suggested that blocking replication with reverse transcriptase inhibitors had a therapeutic effect. Therefore, based on the success of HI Read More