This volume of conference proceedings reviews the general pathophysiological significance of the isoforms of cyclooxygenase, and the likely value of selective COX-2 inhibitors in the treatment of rheumatoid conditions.

This volume contains the proceedings of the International Symposium on Function and Biosynthesis of Lipids held November 1976 at Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina. The conference was organized by the Argentine Biochemical Society and co-sponsored by the International Union of Biochemistry and the Pan American Association of Biochemical Societies. The Symposium's great success is owed to all the participants, most of whom were actively involved in the interesting and stimu- lating discussions that followed every single lecture and communi- cation delivered. Many thanks also to Drs. R. Anderson,...

For the past 100 years the mainstay of therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been aspirin or other drugs of the non-steroid anti-inflammatory group. In 1971 Vane pro posed that both the beneficial and toxic actions of these drugs was through inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. The recent discovery that prostaglandins responsible for pain and other symptoms at inflammatory foci are synthesized by an inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) that is encoded by a gene distinct from that of the consti tutive enzyme (COX-I) provided a new target for therapy of RA. A drug that would selectively...