Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 19, Issue 9, 2013

Stable angina (SA) pectoris is a common and disabling disorder in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), with increasing epidemiology and is associated with myocardial infarction and increased mortality. However, within the population of SA patients, an individual's prognosis can vary considerably. Except from conventional risk factors a variety of biomarkers have been evaluated for their prognostic significance in the s Read More

Heart rate is a major determinant of cardiac output and myocardial oxygen utilization and is increasingly being nominated as a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite this evidence, screening strategies for preventing cardiovascular diseases do not include routine assessment of resting heart rate. Reasonably, heart rate reduction has been suggested as a useful approach against angina pectoris in Read More

Stable angina represents the main symptom of established coronary artery disease. In addition atherosclerosis is the common pathological substrate of chronic stable angina as well as acute coronary syndromes. The aim of stable angina management is the symptomatic relief and the secondary prevention. Lifestyle modification and pharmacological therapy are the cornerstones of chronic coronary artery disease man Read More

Antiplatelet treatment is an important element in the medical treatment of patients with stable angina. Single antiplatelet therapy with low-dose aspirin is recommended in the absence of contraindications in all patients with diagnosed chronic stable angina and ischemic heart disease. Dual antiplatelet therapy is recommended initially for all patients with stable angina undergoing elective angioplasty with the duration of P2Y1 Read More

The goals of pharmacological treatment of stable angina pectoris are to improve quality of life by reducing the severity and/or frequency of symptoms and also the long-term prognosis. Patients with coronary artery disease have viable but dysfunctional myocardium. The metabolism of the ischemic myocardium is characterized by a shift from fatty acid to glucose as a preferred substrate and a decline in the levels of AT Read More

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease which mainly represents an inflammatory response in the vessels. Myocardial ischemia manifested by angina pectoris can be either acute or chronic and usually is a result of imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply and myocardial oxygen demand. Chronic stable angina is chest discomfort attributed to myocardial ischemia without the presence of necrosis and is the most common s Read More

Medical treatment plays an important role in the therapy of coronary artery disease and stable angina. Whereas nitrates are used to improve symptoms, beta-blockers, statins, and ACE-inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers are given also to target prognosis in part by slowing the progression of disease. Major cardiovascular risk factors including tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, arterial hypertension, hy Read More

Atherosclerosis is characterized by chronic inflammation of the vascular wall. Macrophages, which differentiate from circulating monocytes, give rise to foam cells by excessive accumulation of modified lipoproteins. Atherogenesis subsequently progresses through necrotic core expansion associated with apoptosis and the suppressed clearance of apoptotic macrophage (i.e. efferocytosis), followed by the transition to vulne Read More

Conventional therapeutic options to treat chronic angina pectoris are pharmacological interventions, coronary bypass surgery (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In animal models, it was shown that gene delivery strategies harbour an exciting potential to support and maybe even replace conventional anti-angina treatments, but the translation of the basic science to clinical practise appears problemati Read More

Infections are the most common inflammatory triggers and acute and chronic infections have been associated with the development and progression of atherosclerotic disease raising interest in the infectious hypothesis of atherosclerosis. Pathogens have been identified in atherosclerotic plaques and large epidemiological studies have documented conflicting associations between serological evidence of inf Read More

Atherosclerosis is a chronic process related to several underlying mechanisms leading to the formation and evolution of atherosclerotic plaque. Of great interest are during the last years short, non-coding RNAs, called microRNAs and responsible for several aspects of homeostasis and disease. According to the available data microRNAs are expressed in the cardiovascular system and have key roles in normal states, as well as in Read More

Refractory angina pectoris constitutes a manifestation of severe ischemic heart disease that cannot be treated adequately either with conventional medication or with interventional techniques including percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA). As a result, new therapeutic strategies, aiming on angiogenesis, were evolved in order to improve functional class and health related quality of life (HRQOL) indices. Among them, gene Read More

Inflamm-aging, that is the age-associated inflammatory status, is considered one of the most striking consequences of immunosenescence, as it is believed to be linked to the majority of age-associated diseases sharing an inflammatory basis. Nevertheless, evidence is emerging that inflamm-aging is at least in part independent from immunological stimuli. Moreover, centenarians who avoided or delayed major inflammatory di Read More

The decline of the immune system appears to be an intractable consequence of aging, leading to increased susceptibility to infections, reduced effectiveness of vaccination and higher incidences of many diseases including osteoporosis and cancer in the elderly. These outcomes can be attributed, at least in part, to a phenomenon known as T cell replicative senescence, a terminal state characterized by dysregulated im Read More

Cellular senescence is a response to nonlethal intrinsic or extrinsic stress that results in persistent growth arrest with a distinct morphological and biochemical phenotype. The engagement of senescence may represent a key component for therapeutic intervention in the eradication of cancer. Nevertheless, for many years, the role of senescence in opposing tumour growth in vivo had previously been underestimated. The pote Read More

The aging process is associated with a loss of complexity in the dynamics of physiological systems that reduce the ability to adapt to stress, causing frailty and/or age-related diseases. At the cellular level, proliferative and/or oxidative-stress induced cell senescence associated with a pro-inflammatory state may greatly contribute to age-associated impaired tissue and organ functions. Senescence of endothelial and cardia Read More

Recent observations have pointed out that microglia, astrocytes and cerebrovascular endothelial cells senescence might contribute to the onset or progression of sporadic AD. The accumulation of senescent dysfunctional microglia or senescence related changes of other cells within CNS could be causally implicated in AD and age-related dysfunction and their efficient removal could represent a pivotal mechanism to prevent or Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex degenerative disorder of the brain, associated with a progressive cognitive decline. Age is the main risk factor with almost half of the population above 90 years affected by this pathology. AD and brain aging share common molecular changes, so it has been hypothesized that AD could be a form of accelerated brain aging. In this context, senescenceassociated mechanisms could be a va Read More