Alcohol related costs to health and society are high. One of the most serious complications of alcohol misuse to the individual is the development of alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a clinical syndrome of jaundice and progr...Alcohol related costs to health and society are high. One of the most serious complications of alcohol misuse to the individual is the development of alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a clinical syndrome of jaundice and progressive inflammatory liver injury in patients with a history of recent heavy alcohol use. It has a poor outcome and few existing successful therapies. The use of glucocorticoids in patients with severe AH is still controversial and there remains a group of patients with glucocorticoid-resistant disease. However, as our understanding of the pathogenesis of the condition improves there are opportunities to develop new targeted therapies with specific actions to control liver inflammation without having a detrimental effect on the immune system as a whole. In this article we review the molecular mechanisms of AH concentrating on the activation of the innate and adaptive immune response. We consider existing treatments including glucocorticoids, anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy and pentoxifylline and their limitations. Using our knowledge of the disease pathogenesis we discuss possible novel therapeutic approaches. New targets include pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-17, chemokines and their receptors (for example IL-8, CXCL9 and CXCR3) and augmentation of anti-inflam- matory molecules such as IL-10 and IL-22. And there is also future potential to consider combination therapy to selectively modulate the immune response and gain control of disease.展开更多
G-quadruplex secondary structures are four-stranded globular nucleic acid structures form in the specific DNA and RNA G-rich sequences with biological significance such as human telomeres,oncogene-promoter regions,rep...G-quadruplex secondary structures are four-stranded globular nucleic acid structures form in the specific DNA and RNA G-rich sequences with biological significance such as human telomeres,oncogene-promoter regions,replication initiation sites,and 5′and 3′-untranslated(UTR)regions.The non-canonical G-quadruplex secondary structures can readily form under physiologically relevant ionic conditions and are considered to be new molecular target for cancer therapeutics.This review discusses the essential progress in our lab related to the structures and functions of biologically relevant DNA G-quadruplexes in human gene promoters and telomeres,and the opportunities presented for the development of G-quadruplex-targeted smallmolecule drugs.展开更多
文摘Alcohol related costs to health and society are high. One of the most serious complications of alcohol misuse to the individual is the development of alcoholic hepatitis (AH), a clinical syndrome of jaundice and progressive inflammatory liver injury in patients with a history of recent heavy alcohol use. It has a poor outcome and few existing successful therapies. The use of glucocorticoids in patients with severe AH is still controversial and there remains a group of patients with glucocorticoid-resistant disease. However, as our understanding of the pathogenesis of the condition improves there are opportunities to develop new targeted therapies with specific actions to control liver inflammation without having a detrimental effect on the immune system as a whole. In this article we review the molecular mechanisms of AH concentrating on the activation of the innate and adaptive immune response. We consider existing treatments including glucocorticoids, anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy and pentoxifylline and their limitations. Using our knowledge of the disease pathogenesis we discuss possible novel therapeutic approaches. New targets include pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-17, chemokines and their receptors (for example IL-8, CXCL9 and CXCR3) and augmentation of anti-inflam- matory molecules such as IL-10 and IL-22. And there is also future potential to consider combination therapy to selectively modulate the immune response and gain control of disease.
文摘G-quadruplex secondary structures are four-stranded globular nucleic acid structures form in the specific DNA and RNA G-rich sequences with biological significance such as human telomeres,oncogene-promoter regions,replication initiation sites,and 5′and 3′-untranslated(UTR)regions.The non-canonical G-quadruplex secondary structures can readily form under physiologically relevant ionic conditions and are considered to be new molecular target for cancer therapeutics.This review discusses the essential progress in our lab related to the structures and functions of biologically relevant DNA G-quadruplexes in human gene promoters and telomeres,and the opportunities presented for the development of G-quadruplex-targeted smallmolecule drugs.
