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The emerging influence of intestinal microorganisms on human health has led to the prospect of modulating gut microbiota composition as a novel therapeutic strategy. In this article, Jia and colleagues discuss the rationale behind this approach, identify conditions to which this may be applied, and suggest technologies and strategies for the development of gut microbiota-targeted therapies.
The success of stem-cell-based therapies depends on finding reliable sources of multipotent and pluripotent cells, and the ability to generate desired derivatives. Here, the authors discuss problems associated with the sourcing of human embyonic stem cells and discuss the current status of stem-cell differentiation technology.
Raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels has attracted considerable interest as an approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. However, the failure of the HDL-raising investigational drug torcetrapib in clinical trials has led to significant doubts about the potential of this strategy. This article considers possible reasons for the failure of torcetrapib, and discusses alternative agents and strategies that might effectively, and safely, raise HDL-C.
The supposedly inert end products of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) metabolism — nitrate and nitrite — have recently been shown to be an important alternative source of NO, complementing the classical NO-synthase pathway. Lundberg and colleagues discuss the emerging role of the nitrate–nitrite–NO pathway, highlighting the therapeutic potential of nitrate and nitrite in various disorders, including myocardial infarction, stroke, systemic and pulmonary hypertension, and gastric ulceration.
Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are a large family of ubiquitous metalloenzymes that are involved in many physiological and pathological processes. Traditionally, CA inhibition has been clinically applied in the development of diuretic and antiglaucoma agents. Supuran discusses the emerging potential for inhibitors or activators of CAs to treat a wide range of other disorders, including obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, bacterial and fungal infections, as well as Alzheimer's disease.