Edited by one of the most influential biotechnology authorities, this second edition continues to offer answers to challenging questions while looking ahead to the future of antisense drugs, covering the fundamentals of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics and hybridization-based drugs as well as therapeutic applications for cardiovascular purposes, metabolic diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders.

Antisense technology may result in dramatic changes in the therapy of many diseases and may provide tools to dissect pharmacological processes and to confirm the roles of various genes. In this volume, progress in the understanding of antisense technology and its use in creating new drugs is discussed. Potential caveats, pitfalls and limitations of the technology are also presented. In the next few years the pace at which new molecular targets will be identified will increase exponentially as the sequencing of the human genome and of other genomes proceeds.

Dopamine, in addition to its importance as a precursor of norepinephrine, is now known to be an important neurotransmitter in regulating functional activities in a number of major organ systems, including the central ner vous system. the cardiovascular system, the kidney, and the gut. Recent advances in our understanding of the functional role of dopamine, its mechanism of action and the pharmacology of dopaminergic agents have occurred on a broad front. The last few years have witnessed significant progress in the identification and classification of central and peripheral dopamine receptors...

It is less than 80 years since John Newport Langley first proposed the role of "receptive substances" as the site of drug action from his obser vations on the effects of nicotine and curare at the myoneural junction. The many advances in our understanding of receptor biology that have occurred during the intervening period mirror the extraordinary growth of knowledge in the biological sciences and in cell and molecular biology in particular. Receptor biology, in common with many other topics in contemporary biology, is on the threshold of a transition from being a descriptive,...

The characterization of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate inflammation provides a foundation that supports future studies that will de fine mechanisms more intimately. It encourages substantial optimism about the opportunities to understand the inflammatory process and to use that information to develop novel therapeutic approaches. Recent progress has defined the cells that mediate the inflammatory response, many of the inter cellular transmitters, the receptors, signal transduction processes and regula tory mechanisms. Thus, we now have the opportunity to understand...

The heat-shock proteins in E. coli are transiently overexpressed af ter shift to a higher growth temperature. The genes that encode the HSPs are preceded by promoters transcribed in vitro by a form of RNA poly 32 32 merase holoenzyme containing a 32-kd a subunit (Ea ). The a subunit is encoded by the rpoH (htpR) gene, previously identified as a positive 32 effector of the heat-shock response. Our evidence suggests that Ea is the enzyme that transcribes heat-shock genes at all temperatures. The level 32 of a may be regulated at several points: Accumulation of rpoH mRNA 32 is affected by...