Progress in Drug Development for Inflammatory Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammatory-based disorders are a large group of diseases which affect a high percentage of the global community, representing a significant social and economic burden. Among them, rheumatic-based diseases, which affect the joints of the patients and impair their everyday lives with disabling ache-associated symptoms, are still far from being effectively treated. The dangerous side effects of the disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), currently used as first line treatment, represent a limitation with their chronic use and there is an urgent need for new therapeutic tools.

Increasing evidence suggests that inflammation also plays a critical role in neurodegenerative diseases (NNDs), which are multifactorial, progressive, and debilitating disorders whose aetiology are still not completely unravelled. The partially unknown pathological mechanisms make their therapy extremely difficult and the currently available therapeutics are focused on relief of symptoms, the drugs being unable to counteract their progression. In these regards, novel drugs and therapies targeting, among others, inflammatory pathways, can be very useful as neuroprotective strategies.

In this Special Issue, we aim to collect the latest advances in the study and development of new molecules, as potential agents for the treatment of an array of diseases involving inflammation and/or neurodegeneration.

Both original articles and reviews are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions, and hope that the resulting collection will provide a realistic overview of the current medicinal chemistry approaches for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Guglielmi Paolo
Prof. Dr. Daniela Secci
Dr. Emanuela Berrino
Guest Editors

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• inflammation
• rheumatic diseases
• neurodegeneration
• monoamine oxidases (MAOs)
• cholinesterases (ChEs)
• antioxidants
• structure-activity relationship
• drug design