Attacking Illness at Its Roots

Current strategies for prevention and management of serious illnesses, are primarily reliant on small molecule drugs which interfere in pathological pro-inflammatory signaling cascades and may very effectively abate pain, allowing some restoration of function, but fail to halt progressive tissue destruction occurring as a core element of the disease. This is particularly true for cancer, autoimmunity, and some infectious diseases which feature severe dysregulation of normal physiologic over inflammation. Another significant problem with pharmacotherapy as it is currently practiced, is that long-term use of many drugs is undesirable due to expense and often debilitating toxic effects. A treatment strategy that departs from simple analgesia and inhibits disease-associated tissue degradation, uses agents called "biologics" or "biotherapeutics", which are superior to currently available treatments, since many act by augmenting natural adaptive mechanisms such as increased expression of immunoregulatory molecules rather than interference with inflammation-associated homeostasis or traumatic interventions such as surgery and radiation. Collateral interference with pro-inflammatory signaling processes is a major source of drug toxicity.

The proposed book will explore how interventions that selectively strengthen the biological effects of critical cytoprotective enzymes such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and superoxide dismutase; along with stress response products such as heat shock proteins contribute to stabilization of healthy tissue and organ function to prevent or mitigate illness. This book will also compare strategies for neutralizing the potentially pathological effects of reactive oxygen and inflammatory cytokines by reducing their expression, quenching them with antioxidants, or blocking interaction with their cognate receptors. Finally, this book will analyze the current socioeconomic impact of adverse effects resulting from current approaches to healthcare in the context of improvements anticipated by use of biotherapeutic strategies.