Over the last few years, we have witnessed tremendous progress in the field of eicosanoids and their therapeutic applications. Receptor an tagonists for leukotrienes have been tested as anti-inflammatories and are on the market as a treatment for asthma. Receptor agonists for pro stacyclin are being tested for the treatment of peripheral vascular dis ease, and selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase type II were just ap proved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. All these developments are the culmination of many years and man-hours of careful research. The field has now entered an...

The induction of immune responses against tumor cells by vaccination is rapidly evolving as a therapeutic modality with new potentials for the treatment of cancer. It is based on the fact that our immune system can identify tumor cells and, once activated, is capable of developing specific immunity against the neoplastic cells. Numerous observations and intense research clearly document the major contribution of the immune system to the prevention of cancer. And there are many re ports of patients suffering from malignant melanoma or other tumors who mount a spontaneous immune response...

Despite increased spending on research and development, the number of new medicines marketed successfully continues to decline. The Pharmaceutical industry is therefore focussing on ways to reduce attrition by addressing frequent reasons for clinical drug failures very early in the drug discovery process. One of the biggest challenges is the pharmacokinetic (PK) optimisation of drug candidates tailored and predicted to have appropriate absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) characteristics in human. This book describes how traditional pbarmacokinetic approaches and methods...

Structural biology is becoming a routine technique for structure de termination in pharmaceutical industries. The advances in molecular biology, crystal handling and data collection techniques, tunable syn chrotron radiation sources, and high-performance computing have all contributed to developments such as the production and expression of tailored protein domains, the use of the MAD (Multiple Anomalous Dispersion) method, and the collection of X-ray data from tiny crystals at cryogenic temperature. The number of protein structures deposited in the Protein Databank has increased tremendously...

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in industrialized countries. To date, the medical need of efficient therapy for this de vastating cerebrovascular disorder remains unmet. During the last decades, the development of pharmacological stroke therapies was aimed at improving patient outcome by restoration of cerebral blood flow or protection from acute neuronal cell death. Almost all of The participants of the workshop VI Preface these appraaches targeted the very early events after vascular occIu sion. However, primarily for logistical reasons, only a small portion of strakes can...

"What is a nongenotoxic carcinogen?" This question recurred through out the Ernst Schering Research Foundation Workshop on nongeno toxic carcinogenesis, underlining the complexity of the topic. The clarity of the view that all carcinogens act by mutating DNA, origin ally advocated by Bruce Ames nearly 20 years ago, has been clouded by the increasing numbers of compounds which are not genotoxic but which nevertheless can cause cancer. There is an urgent need to in crease our understanding of these compounds so that their risks can be evaluated realistically and decisions made from a position...

Steroids regulate differentiation, growth and functioning of many tissues via a nuclear receptor gene activation mechanism. Molecular biology has opened the way for more detailed investigation of the complex set of intracellular interactions contributing to organ-selective actions of steroids and steroid-like compounds such as vitamin D. In this volume leading experts address basic molecular mechanisms of tissue specificity and related issue, with the goal of attaining a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of organ selective actions of steroids. Discussed is the extent to which...

To mark the occasion of the lOOth anniversary of Schering research two events took place: a) a Workshop on Bioscience; =: Society, which was held November 24-30, 1990 in Berlin. The goal of the workshop was: Do current and anticipated developments in bioscience require a new covenant between science and society? The results have been published as the first volume of a newly created "Schering Foundation Workshop" series* by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chich ester, England (D.J. Roy, E.W. Wynne, and R.W. Old, eds. (1991), Bio science; =: Society, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons); b) a Round Table...

The renewal of interest in excitatory amino acids in the 1980s has altered the direction of neurobiology. L-Glutamate, widely regarded as a general perpetu ator of nonspecific excitation, has become generally regarded as a widely dis tributed and important neurotransmitter in the CNS. In the past three decades evidence has accumulated that excitatory amino acids are involved in many neurological diseases and that pharmacological intervention may offer pros pects of novel and more effective therapies. Numerous studies on experimen tal animals demonstrate that excitatory amino acid antagonists...