Editorial

In general, the editions of “Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets” accompany an Editorial only in case of a hot topic issue, which is usually put together by a Guest Editor. In this first edition of volume 6, I thought it worthwhile to provide editorial comments, irrespective of this being a general issue, on the disparate review articles that comprise this edition. One plausible reason for this is that the breadth of topics covered by the 8 reviews judiciously reflects on the intent of this journal to cover new and exciting aspects of inflammation and allergy research, which are at the forefront of new treatments and new therapeutic targets. In addition, this journal's Editorial staff, comprising of eminent researchers and scientists from and so we have throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, also aims at a global reach in parallel with global relevance, with this edition representing a true mirror of the quality articles from these regions. The current edition also highlights the diversity of therapeutic areas in which inflammation is a critical component. New therapeutic targets for allergic inflammation are outlined in the reviews on Interleukin-21 and c-Kit by Fina et al. and by Jensen et al. respectively. The ability to harness and understand the pleiotropic effects of statins are becoming increasingly important. Ghittoni and colleagues provide a timely review of the role of statins on T lymphocyte function and how this may be addressed therapeutically. To date, the therapeutic promise of PDE4 inhibitors as therapy in COPD and asthma has largely remained unrealized due to the manifestation of side effects such as nausea and emesis. Baumer et al. review how targeting PDE4 inhibitors for skin disease may provide therapeutic benefit with an acceptable side effect profile. Atherosclerosis remains a major problem in the developed countries and has considerably increased with an increase in the cases of metabolic diseases. Therefore the review by Wollard & Chin-Dusting on how interfering early on in the atherosclerotic cascade by targeting Pselectin may be of benefit appears timely enough. The HIV epidemic has brought a renewed need to understand and how to treat latent tuberculosis infection. This topic is successfully covered by Cardona. Current asthma therapy is dominated by the use of beta agonists and steroids. One criticism that is often leveled at these therapies is that they have little impact on the vascular remodeling that occurs in asthma. The review by Chetta et al. elucidates on how this may be tackled pharmacologically. There are very few treatment options available for acute hepatic disease. The review by Haddish-Berhane and colleagues is an interesting and novel departure from the usual review. They describe an in silico approach for estimating how treatments for inflammatory bowel disease may exert their influence. While several iterations of these approaches will need to occur before they become valuable predictors, it is likely that in silico approaches such as this will become much more prevalent and useful in drug discovery in the future. I trust that you will find this edition of IA-DT thought-provoking and informative reading. I encourage you to submit proposals for review articles, or if you wish to be a Guest Editor for a thematic issue, to myself or one of the regional editors whose contact information can be found at http://www.bentham.org/iadt.