Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 17, Issue 22, 2011

It is generally accepted that ROS is major cause of life style-dependent diseases such as cancer, stroke and many other serious diseases. So far they were treated individually by various kinds of drugs specially designed for each symptom, but these approaches must be changed innovatively. Generally, ROS is generated intracellularly when mitochondria is producing ATP, while it is also generated extracellularly by the stimulati Read More

Persistent oxidative stress is one of the major causes of most lifestyle-related diseases, cancer and the aging process. Acute oxidative stress directly causes serious damage to tissues. Despite the clinical importance of oxidative damage, antioxidants have been of limited therapeutic success. We have proposed that molecular hydrogen (H2) has potential as a “novel” antioxidant in preventive and therapeutic applicatio Read More

Regulation of cellular redox balances is important for the homeostasis of human health. Thus, many important human diseases, such as inflammation, diabetes, glaucoma, cancers, ischemia and neurodegenerative diseases, have been investigated in the field of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress. To overcome the harmful effect of oxidative stress and ROS, one can directly eliminate them by med Read More

Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) is a key enzyme in multiple cell processes. Since many pharmacological compounds that have effects on common metabolic pathways may have uses in many different diseases, we review here the possible involvement of glycogen synthase kinase 3 in diabetes, cancer and CNS diseases. Moreover, diabetes has recently been strongly linked to CNS diseases such as schizophrenia and bip Read More

Senescent cells show a series of alterations, including a flat and enlarged morphology, increase in nonspecific acidic β- galactosidase activity, chromatin condensation, and changes in gene expression patterns. The onset and maintenance of senescence are regulated by two tumor suppressor proteins, p53 and Rb, whose expression is controlled by two distinct proteins, p19Arf and p16Ink4a, respectively, which are e Read More

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), by-products of aerobic metabolism, cause oxidative damage to cells and tissue and not surprisingly many theories have arisen to link ROS-induced oxidative stress to aging and health. While studies clearly link ROS to a plethora of divergent diseases, their role in aging is still debatable. Genetic knock-down manipulations of antioxidants alter the levels of accrued oxidative damage, however, the re Read More

Dendrimers are polymeric compounds with highly branched structures and functionally tunable peripheral groups. Because of their low polydispersity, high degree of molecular uniformity, and precisely controlled structure, dendrimers are excellent models for demonstrating a variety of biological activities. With the attachment of metals ions and/or metals, metallodendrimers or dendrimer nanocomposites, resp Read More

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been designed for multifaceted applications such as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis, drug/gene carriers for different kinds of therapeutic agents, tissue repair, hyperthermia, immunoassay, and cell separation/sensing. This review highlights synthesis methods, stabilizers used for surface coating on MNPs, and target ligands for ferrying payloads to an interest Read More

Blood transfusion systems have greatly benefited human health and welfare. Nevertheless, some problems remain: possibility of infection, blood type mismatching, immunological response, and a short shelf life that is insufficient for stockpiling for emergency situations. Realization of artificial O2 carriers is anticipated to solve such problems. During the long development of hemoglobin (Hb)-based O2 carriers, many side effects Read More

There are several different ways for cancer treatment including operation, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy, ablation and hyperthermia. Techniques utilizing temperature elevation over the tumor region are usually called as thermal therapies. In this paper, we will focus on hyperthermia which is one of the promising cancer treatments utilizing the difference of thermal sensitivity between the Read More

Willis, CL and Davis TP. Chronic Inflammation Pain and the Neurovascular Unit: A Central Role for Glia in Maintaining BBB Integrity. Curr Pharm Des 2008, 14: 1625-1643. Erroneously, there was an omission of Brooks, TA in the authorship for the submitted manuscript. The author list should instead read: Willis, CL, Brooks, TA and Davis TP.