Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 13, Issue 25, 2007

This issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design, for which I have the honour to be Executive Guest Editor, addresses issues relating to the clinical management and treatment of hypertension, its pathophysiology and the clinical use of antihypertensive drugs. Goon et al. [1] discuss hypertension, anti-hypertensive therapy and neoplasia, providing an overview establishing the strengths and weaknesses of the argume Read More

The link between cancer, hypertension and anti-hypertensive drug treatment is controversial. Despite numerous studies looking either directly or indirectly at cancer and hypertension, the results are often conflicting and do little to answer the dominant questions of cause and effect. Also, the treatment of hypertension has continued to evolve, with newer therapies being made available including angiotensin- converting enzym Read More

Arterial hypertension is a widespread disease and one of important yet under-recognized and under-treated causes of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Hypertrophy of cardiac muscle in hypertensive patients is characterized not only by increased myocardial mass, but also by proliferation of fibrous tissue and decreased intercellular coupling, that lead to inhomogeneity of electrical properties and propensity to Read More

In patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), hypertension is common. The type of ACS and severity of hypertension would determine the treatment algorithm. In ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI), time to reperfusion is essential whereas in malignant hypertension the reduction of blood pressure to prevent end organ damage is the priority. Many therapeutic drugs available for ACS and hypertension are commonly Read More

Hypertension is the most common medical condition encountered in and complicating pregnancy, with significant implications on maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. It is also one of the areas of clinical practice that has been studied extensively, yet less well understood. The hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a spectrum of conditions that are classified into 4 categories based upon recommendations of Read More

The current diagnostic threshold for diabetes mellitus is imposed on a continuous distribution of blood glucose measurement. A more clinical approach estimates a threshold above which the rate of diabetes-specific complications rises steeply. However, the diagnostic threshold for diabetes is essentially established on the risk of microvascular and not cardiovascular complications. Indeed, while there appears to be Read More

Protein acetylation, catalyzed by the opposing activities of histone deacetylases (HDAC) and histone acetyltransferases, is now recognized to be an important epigenetic modulator of gene transcriptional activity and cell function. As a result of the intense search for HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) during the past fifteen years, a large number of structurally divergent classes with variable potencies and isoenzyme selectivities have b Read More

Serotonin (5-HT) receptors are part of the G protein-coupled and ligand-gated ion channel families. 5-HT exerts its diverse actions by binding to cell surface receptors which can be classified into seven distinct families (5-HT1 to 5- HT7) according to their structural diversity and mode of action. Some of the 5-HT families are comprised of multiple receptors which share similar structural and mechanistic properties but display ver Read More