Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 16, Issue 33, 2010

Current treatment options for the chronic gastrointestinal disorder irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have long been limited to symptomatic treatments due to lack of pathophysiologic understanding of the syndrome. Within the past 10 years, however, a number of new pharmacological targets have been identified that may aid in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Although only a limited number of new drug enti Read More

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a highly prevalent chronic functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder associated with abdominal pain and change in bowel habits that its etiology is not known yet. In the recent years, melatonin has been proposed as a possible candidate. In the present work, all clinical or non-clinical data about effects of melatonin in GI tract and IBS obtained from literature without time limit up to August 2010 h Read More

Over the last 15 years, the use of various biological therapies has largely improved the way we manage patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs). Blockade of cytokine synthesis and/or activity is at the forefront of this new era with the success of inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. These therapies are however not effective in all IBD patients and efficacy may wane. Moreover, patients treated with anti-TNF-α antib Read More

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is known as a chronic inflammation of gastrointestinal tract that its pathogenesis still is not completely understood. Several drug categories are used for management of IBD but there is no exact cure for the disease, however biological drugs targeting the inflammation of gut are on the center of attention. In investigating the anti-inflammatory drugs, phosphodiesterase inhibitors were f Read More

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract and is broadly classified into Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). In the last decade, our understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of this group of disorders has been improved. More specifically, recent development of biologics and use of immunomodulator agents in IBD have made it possible to robus Read More

Objective: This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of two drug groups (immunoregulators and antibiotics) in the treatment of fistula in Crohn's disease (CD). Methods: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched for clinical trial studies investigated the effects of immunoregulators and antibiotics in the treatment of fistuliz Read More

HIV-1 is an enveloped virus that derives its lipid envelope from the virus producing cell. The envelope glycoprotein complex (Env) mediates viral attachment to and entry in susceptible target cells and is therefore an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. The T20 peptide (Fuzeon, enfuvirtide), targeting the Env fusion machinery, was approved for clinical use in 2003 and served as salvage therapy for many HIV-1 inf Read More

The ultimate aim of therapy or vaccine design against HIV is to eliminate ongoing virus replication or prevent HIV infection. The task at hand is daunting given the wide array of HIV variants circulating and the immense degree of variation found within the virus, especially in the envelope glycoprotein. HIV utilizes the CD4 receptor and a range of 7 transmembrane chemokine coreceptors for cell entry, specifically CCR5 and Read More

The envelope glycoprotein complex (Env) is responsible for entry of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) into cells by mediating attachment to target cells and subsequent membrane fusion. Env consists of three gp120 subunits that mediate receptor and co-receptor attachment and three gp41 subunits responsible for membrane fusion. Several steps of the entry process can serve as drug targets. Re Read More

Formulating an effective HIV vaccine remains a formidable challenge despite nearly 3 decades of intense research since the virus was first isolated. One of the obstacles that need to be surmounted is the design of a preparation that elicits a potent and broadly neutralizing antibody (nAb) response, i.e. antibodies with the capacity to block infectivity of the genetically diverse pool of HIV strains that circulate globally. The pri Read More

Traditional vaccine approaches have failed for HIV and novel strategies are now being sought to develop immunogens designed to elicit specific activity against known broad neutralization epitopes. Structure-based vaccine design has great potential but, so far, remains a largely unproven concept. Further structural information for the envelope (Env) glycoproteins, gp120 and gp41, would be extremely beneficial, particularl Read More

Therapeutic antibodies have evolved into an important drug class and have achieved considerable success in combating cancers and autoimmune diseases. Although their potential in the treatment of viral infections has not yet been fully explored, recently established approaches have the potential to aid the development of HIV specific antibody therapies. Antibody engineering has led to improvements in antibody isolation Read More