Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 9, Issue 15, 2003

Obesity is a heritable disease that affects millions of people, is disproportionately prevalent in some ethnic groups, and has serious health consequences. Molecular mechanisms causing excessive adiposity are being discovered at an unprecedented rate in animal models. The same cannot be said for humans and, in fact, the etiology of obesity in the majority of people remains unknown. Furthermore, we are far from Read More

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), the most abundant peptide present in the mammalian brain, exhibits a wide spectrum of central and peripheral activities mediated by at least six G-protein coupled receptors. The latter observation, and the implication of NPY in the pathophysiology of feeding, seizures, diabetes, intestinal dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory disorders, have led to vigorous efforts to dissociate various effe Read More

Diabetes is among the largest contributors to global mortality through its long term complications. The worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes has been stimulating the quest for new concepts and targets for the treatment of this incurable disease. A new target is glycogen phosphorylase (GP), the main regulatory enzyme in the liver responsible for the control of blood glucose levels. One of several approaches to influence the a Read More

While the biological reaction of chymase have been often studied for ten years, the pathophysiological role of chymase has not been fully elucidate due to a lack of effective inhibitors featuring potent inhibitory activity, specificity, and metabolic stability. Recently the discovery of a structurally varied range of novel nonpeptidic inhibitors presents new opportunities to explore the role of chymase under both physiological and pat Read More

The selective accumulation and activation of leukocytes in inflamed tissues contributes to the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as infection, rheumatoid arthritis, allergic asthma, atopic dermatitis, and multiple sclerosis. A substantial body of reports suggests that chemokines and their receptors, which belong to a family of seven transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR), may be in Read More

Peptides and proteins are essential to many biological processes. The interaction between the peptide ligands and their receptor targets commonly involves β-turn structures. Yet poor bioavailability and unfavorable pharmacokinetics significantly compromise the use of peptides as drugs. Thus, there has been a great deal of interest in the design of peptidomimetics (modified peptides) as therapeutic agents by mimicking β-turn s Read More