George Poste

Gregory Gregoriadis

Judith Senior

Targeting of drugs via carrier systems to sites in the body in need of pharmacologic intervention is a rapidly growing area of research in the treatment or prevention of disease. It has evolved from the need to preferentially deliver drugs, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, antigens, etc. to target cells and organs so as to avoid toxicity, waste of drugs through premature secretion or inactivation and at the same time render treatment more convenient and cost-effective. A wide assortment of naturally occ urring or semi-synthetic drug carriers (e. g. antibodies, glycoproteins, lectins, peptide hormones, cells and liposomes), their inter action with relevant receptors and mediation of optimal pharmacological action were discussed in the two previous NATO Advanced Studies Institutes (ASI) of this series, "Targeting of Drugs" and "Receptor-Mediated Targeting of Drugs", the proceedings of wh ich were published by Plenum in 1982 and 1984 respectively. This book contains the proceedings of the 3rd NATO ASI "Targeting of Drugs with Synthetic Systems" held as be fore at Cape Sounion, Greece during 24 June-5 July 1985. It deals mostly with man-made carriers such as a variety of polymers, matrices, liposomes and other colloidal micro particles. The twenty chapters discuss the interaction of such carriers with the biological milieu, approaches to bypass the reticuloendothelial system (or, when needed, take advantage of its interception of carriers to optimally deliver drugs to phagocytes) and ways to improve delivery to specific cells, often with the help of carrier-linked ligands.

Targeting of Drugs With Synthetic Systems

Brenda McCormack

Anthony C. Allison

Proceedings of a NATO ASI held at Cape Sounion Beach, Greece, June 24-July 5, 1992.

The Role of Basic Immunology

New Generation Vaccines

Stanley T. Crooke

Dopamine, in addition to its importance as a precursor of norepinephrine, is now known to be an important neurotransmitter in regulating functional activities in a number of major organ systems, including the central ner vous system. the cardiovascular system, the kidney, and the gut. Recent advances in our understanding of the functional role of dopamine, its mechanism of action and the pharmacology of dopaminergic agents have occurred on a broad front. The last few years have witnessed significant progress in the identification and classification of central and peripheral dopamine receptors and the factors that affect their responsiveness to inhibitory and stimulatory ligands. These advances have been paralleled by new insights into the contribution of alterations in dopaminergic reg ulation in causing disease and the utility of dopamine agonists and an tagonists as therapeutic modalities. This volume, the first in a series of publications arising from the annual Smith Kline and French Research Symposium on New Horizons in Therapeutics, provides a comprehensive survey of current research on peripheral dopamine receptors and the physiologic and therapeutic con sequences of stimulating pre-and postsynaptic dopamine receptors. Research in dopamine pharmacology mirrors the remarkable ad vances that are occurring in the field of pharmacology at large as a con sequence of the involvement of an ever-larger number of scientific dis ciplines in the study of drug action.

Dopamine Receptor Agonists

It is less than 80 years since John Newport Langley first proposed the role of "receptive substances" as the site of drug action from his obser vations on the effects of nicotine and curare at the myoneural junction. The many advances in our understanding of receptor biology that have occurred during the intervening period mirror the extraordinary growth of knowledge in the biological sciences and in cell and molecular biology in particular. Receptor biology, in common with many other topics in contemporary biology, is on the threshold of a transition from being a descriptive, phenomenological discipline to one in which underlying mechanisms and regulatory principles can be defined with increasing pre cision. This change, together with the evolution of powerful analytical techniques and timely convergence of ideas from a number of previously separate fields of inquiry, is generating an increasingly unified theoretical and experimental framework for the study of receptor function. These themes, and the mood of anticipation that a real understanding of receptor function in health and disease is emerging, are reflected in in this volume, which summarizes the proceedings of the Sec the papers ond Smith Kline & French Research Symposium on New Horizons in Therapeutics held in Philadelphia in 1984.

Mechanisms of Receptor Regulation

Brian W. Metcalf

Barbara J. Dalton

The books in this acclaimed series provide integrated, critical surveys of topics of current interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Cellular Adhesion: Molecular Definition to Therapeutic Potential covers the molecular definition of adhesion molecule structure and function, the biological consequences of cellular adhesion, and the therapeutic potential of targeting adhesion molecules.

George Poste

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