Author: Wegner, C.D.

Source: Current Pharmaceutical Design, Volume 7, Number 3, 1 February 2001 , pp. 199-212(14)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Sub acute and chronic bronchitis (SACB) are among the least well studied major medical problems that exist today. While much research and novel drug discovery have focused on asthma, comparatively little has been performed on chronic bronchitis, the fourth or fifth most frequent disease (4 to 6 percent of the population over 45 years of age), or on sub acute bronchitis, the persistent symptoms of a respiratory infection which is the major reason Americans visit a physician (20 percent). This lack of attention is largely due to difficulties associated with modeling the pathophysiology of SACB in vitro, in situ, in organs or in animals as well as the presumption that drugs developed for asthma would also be effective in SACB. Data with bronchodilators (anti cholinergics versus beta 2 adrenergic agonist) and corticosteroids have strongly dismissed that premise. In this review of potential novel mechanistic targets directed specifically at SACB, an emphasis is given to recent data, gathered most convincingly from tissues and patients with cystic fibrosis, that have led to an appreciation of the critical role respiratory epithelial dysfunction plays in the pathophysiology and symptoms of these diseases. Mechanistic targets that restore (normalize or accelerate) airway cleansing (enhance host defense) by accelerating mucociliary clearance are described and given preference over anti inflammatory mechanisms that could further impair host defense.

Keywords: Novel mechanistic Target; Mucociliary clearance; Bronchitis; Chemoattractants; Microbe colonization; Muscarinic antagonist; Proteinaceous debris; Antitrypsin deficiency; Epithelial Sodium Channel

Document Type: Review article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612013398220

Publication date: 2001-02-01

More about this publication?

• Current Pharmaceutical Design publishes timely in-depth reviews covering all aspects of current research in rational drug design. Each issue is devoted to a single major therapeutic area. A Guest Editor who is an acknowledged authority in a therapeutic field has solicits for each issue comprehensive and timely reviews from leading researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
  
  Each thematic issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design covers all subject areas of major importance to modern drug design, including: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug targets and disease mechanism.

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Pharmacology
• By this author: Wegner, C.D.

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers