Bruce N. Cronstein - Böcker

After a century of research, several lines of evidence now indicate that the ability of adenosine to directly control inflammatory cells has a major impact on the functions of the inflammatory and immune systems. Consequently, many promising therapeutic approaches are beginning to emerge that focus on the modulation of adenosine, including the development of compounds that interfere with the breakdown of adenosine, as well as specific agonists and antagonists of various adenosine subtypes. Some of these compounds have already entered clinical trials. While information on the role of adenosine is growing rapidly, until now it has remained scattered in the literature.Edited by three pioneering researchers in the field, Adenosine Receptors: Therapeutic Aspects for Inflammatory and Immune Diseases presents the first single volume compilation of reviews on how adenosine, acting on its cellular receptors, regulates immune responses. The book is organized to provide the reader with a general overview of adenosine receptors, delving into molecular biology, cell biology, and pharmacology. Separate chapters focus on the role of adenosine receptors in regulating the function of the various cell types that are involved in immune responses. Further chapters delineate the role of purinergic signaling in the pathophysiology of a variety of disease states associated with an overzealous or insufficient immune response. These include autoimmune diseases, asthma, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and cancer. Much of the methodology and findings documented in this text may well lead to new therapeutic modalities for pathologies such as ischemia and reperfusion, heart disease, wound healing, tumors, pain, and a variety of central nervous system diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy, as well as mood and sleep disorders. This resource provides background and direction for those researchers entering the field of adenosine and inflammatory disease, and provides a comprehensive reference for experienced investigators.

Although surprising, it seems fitting that a drug developed at the dawn of the era of rational drug design and therapeutics, methotrexate, should remain in common use for the therapy of so many different kinds of illnesses. Moreover, methotrexate has completely revolutionized the way in which medicine is practiced in a number of speciality areas. First developed to treat malignancies, methotrexate is now commonly used to treat gynecological problems, inflammatory arthritis, skin disease and probably other ailments as well. This work is designed to give a broad overview of the history of methotrexate's development, its prior use and its current therapeutic uses. As discussed in Chapter I, aminopterin and methotrexate were designed to inhibit mammalian folate metabolism but the concept of folic acid antag­ onism was soon applied to the development of antibacterial and anti­ parasitic agents. Trimethoprim and sulfa drugs were among the first antibiotics developed and they also remain quite useful today for the treat­ ment of a variety of infections.