Anti-adhesive therapeutics: A new class of anti-inflammatory agents

Abstract

Intercellular adhesion plays a discrete part in a co-ordinated sequence of events which lead to the pathology of inflammatory disease. The last decade has seen an explosion of information aimed at providing more detail on the mechanism of cell adhesion which essentially involves a number of signal transductions resulting in the migration of white blood cells to the site of infection. Over-recruitment of these cells can cause injury to the normal tissues as observed in the case of septic shock-reperfusion injury. Cell-cell interaction also takes place in metastasis - the migration and adherence of malignant tumour cells. Inhibition or control of these pathophysiological disorders is possible by introducing therapeutics that would block or modulate the adhesion process.