Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Asthma and COPD
- 1 Pathology of asthma and COPD: inflammation and structure
- 2 Glucocorticosteroids
- 3 β2-adrenoceptor agonists
- 4 Anticholinergic bronchodilators
- 5 Antiallergic drugs
- 6 Drugs affecting the synthesis and action of leukotrienes
- 7 Theophylline and selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors in the treatment of respiratory disease
- 8 Potential therapeutic effects of potassium channel openers in respiratory diseases
- 9 Tachykinin and kinin antagonists
- 10 Drugs affecting IgE (Synthesis inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies)
- 11 Drugs targeting cell signalling
- Part II Diffuse parenchymal lung disease
- Part III Infection
- Part IV Pulmonary vascular diseases
- Part V Lung cancer
- Part VI Cough
- Index
8 - Potential therapeutic effects of potassium channel openers in respiratory diseases
from Part I - Asthma and COPD
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Asthma and COPD
- 1 Pathology of asthma and COPD: inflammation and structure
- 2 Glucocorticosteroids
- 3 β2-adrenoceptor agonists
- 4 Anticholinergic bronchodilators
- 5 Antiallergic drugs
- 6 Drugs affecting the synthesis and action of leukotrienes
- 7 Theophylline and selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors in the treatment of respiratory disease
- 8 Potential therapeutic effects of potassium channel openers in respiratory diseases
- 9 Tachykinin and kinin antagonists
- 10 Drugs affecting IgE (Synthesis inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies)
- 11 Drugs targeting cell signalling
- Part II Diffuse parenchymal lung disease
- Part III Infection
- Part IV Pulmonary vascular diseases
- Part V Lung cancer
- Part VI Cough
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The pharmaceutical industry is always in hot pursuit of new therapies to combat diseases and other ailments. Generally, the route is difficult and costly involving the identification of novel disease targets and the design of novel compounds for these targets. An alternative option is that new drugs can be designed from modification of currently existing molecules to achieve compounds with an overall superior therapeutic profile. However, sometimes a class of a drug, designed for a specific indication, can be fortuitously shown to have therapeutic effects in a completely different disease state. In most of these cases, it is the mode of action of the drug and not necessarily similarities in the disease mechanisms per se that make these compounds useful across a spectrum of diseases. This is the case for potassium channel openers (KCOs), compounds originally developed as anti-hypertensive agents as they are able to relax vascular smooth muscle. They act by opening potassium channels in cell membranes resulting in membrane hyperpolarization and consequently relaxation of the muscle cells. Cromakalim is one of the earliest used KCOs and is a benzopyran prototype. In addition to its ability to relax vascular smooth muscle cromakalim was shown to also relax airway smooth muscle (ASM). Because of this property, this class of drugs has been receiving increasing attention due to their potential use in respiratory diseases and many studies have been undertaken to investigate this.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Drugs for the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases , pp. 172 - 183Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003