The Organizing Committee of the 15th International Conference on Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation and Related Diseases compiled a group of junior investigators to provide reviews on the topics they presented at the Puerto Vallarta Bioactive Lipids conference, as part of the book series, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (AEMB). The book in this series will be titled Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation and Related Diseases. Topics range from all classes of lipids including prostaglandins, resolvins, spingolipids, P450-derived lipids, endocannabanoids and phospholipids. The focus includes physiology, cell biology, and structural studies in organisms from bacteria to humans and how these studies addressed the role of lipids in various disease i.e. cancer, inflammation, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and others.

This volume represents a collection of contributions from the 6th International Conference on Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Related Diseases held in Boston from September 12-15, 1999. The mission of this meeting was to bring together senior and junior investigators to both announce and examine their recent advancements in cutting-edge research on the roles and actions of lipid mediators and their impact in human physiology and disease pathogenesis. The meeting focused on new concepts in these areas of interest to both clinicians and researchers. The program included several outstanding plenary lectures and presentations by leading experts in the fields of cancer and inflammation. In addition, the Boston meeting presented three Young Investigator awards, one in each of the major focus areas. The meeting was exciting and proved to be very memorable. The program was developed with an emphasis on recent advances in molecular and of lipid mediators relevant in cellular mechanisims involved in the formation and actions inflammation and cancer. Plenary lectures were presented by Prof. Bengt Sammuelsson (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm; 1982 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine) and Prof. E. 1. Corey (Harvard University; 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). Both of these plenary lectures were held on Day 1, which set an exciting tone for this meeting. Immediately following these plenary lectures, three simultaneous breakout sessions were held, one of inflammation, a second on cancer and synthesis of novel inhibitors, and a third on enzymes-lipoxygenases/cyclooxygenases and inhibitors.

This book contains conference presentations regarding the regulation of eicosanoid enzymes and, in particular, cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases, and phospholipases. The new field of isoprostanes is also represented.

Even though initially considered as a passive means for storing energy, lipids are now regarded as multifaceted molecules with crucial structural and functional activities. For instance, some of them play essential roles as key components of cell membranes whereas others act as signaling molecules in the regulation of cell homeostasis. In recent years, lipid research has attracted increasing interest because of the involvement of this class of compounds in human health. Indeed, a plethora of pathological conditions are characterized by alterations in lipid metabolism, such as cardiovascular diseases and brain disorders. This Special Issue is a collection of papers from different experts in lipid research, with the aim of providing new insights into the physiopathological involvement of lipids and their impact on human health. This collection also demonstrates the usefulness of interdisciplinary approaches in the development of novel methods to study and manipulate lipid metabolism, which may represent an attractive target for designing effective therapeutic strategies to counteract numerous pathologies.

This book is a continuance of the topic: “DAMPs in Human Diseases”, the basics of which were described in a first volume by the same author. This second volume presents our current understanding of the impact of sterile stress/injury-induced innate immune responses on the etiopathogenesis of human diseases by focusing on those diseases that are pathogenetically dominated by DAMPs, i.e., on polytrauma, various solid organ injuries (brain, lung, kidney, liver), atherosclerosis, and cerebro-cardiovascular diseases. Our growing understanding of the pathogenetic function of activating DAMPs and suppressive DAMPs (“SAMPs”) is used as a point of departure to explore how these molecules can be used as biomarkers to extend and improve current diagnostic and prognostic modalities. Moreover, this new knowledge about the pathogenetic function of DAMPs and SAMPs is taken as a sound and plausible reason for discussing their implications for present and future treatment of the diseases addressed here. In this context, the focus is on the potential of DAMPs as future therapeutic targets and SAMPs as future therapeutics, applied in strict compliance with safety precautions, as also recommended in this work. The book is intended for professionals from all medical and paramedical disciplines who are interested in applying innovative data from inflammation and immunity research to clinical practice. The readership will include practitioners and clinicians working in the broad field of acute and chronic inflammatory/fibrotic diseases, in particular, traumatologists and intensivists; neurologists and neurosurgeons; cardiologists and cardiac surgeons; pulmonologists and thoracic surgeons; vascular surgeons; nephrologists; gastroenterologists and hepatologists; and pharmacists. Also available: Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in Human Diseases - Vol. 1: Injury-Induced Innate Immune Responses

In recent decades eicosanoids have been attracting an increasing amount of attention as a result of their important physiological roles in many areas of biology and medicine. The eicosanoids comprise the prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes and are products of arachidonic acid, an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid stored in tissue phospholipids. Disturbances of eicosanoids and their metabolic products play a regulatory role in many types of cell injuries and diseases. One of the most exciting areas of eicosanoid research pinpoints their participation in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation. Eicosanoids form a link between different fields of research into such areas as cancer, inflammation and radiation-induced injury. This link provided the impetus for the development of the conference series of which the present volume represents the proceedings of the Second International Conference, held in Berlin in October 1991.

Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference held in Hong Kong, October 4-7, 1995

Bioactive lipid metabolism and signaling are now widely accepted as major players in cancer biology. This volume helps to fill the urgent need to explore and investigate the innovations, current shortcomings, and future challenges of cancer therapy through the bioactive lipids by presenting new research on the use of bioactive lipids as effective weapons against cancer. The volume introduces the subject and then goes on to cover the chemistry, formulation, and mechanism of bioactive lipids in cancer. The volume takes a close look at lipoxins, ceramides, resolvins, and sphingosine-1-phosphate and their roles in cancer treatment. It also addresses the formulations based on bioactive lipids for the treatment of cancer. A variety of mechanisms of bioactive lipids as novel therapies are also covered, including using computational techniques to identify bioactive lipid drug targets, targeting therapy via KRAS and PI3K signals, and others. The authors also discuss the role and effects of various substances and their effect on various cancers, including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and others. The application of lysophosphatidic acid, lipopolysaccharide, lipid-soluble bioactive substance from avocado, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids-derived lipid metabolites, and more are covered as well. The volume offers academia, technologists, and scientists from different disciplines valuable information to gain knowledge of bioactive lipid metabolism and signaling as an anti-cancer weapon in their fight against cancer.

Over one hundred contributions detail advances in the molecular and cellular biology of eicosanoid production, as well as their role in signal transduction. One of the most exciting developments explored within this collection of articles is the expression of the novel isoform of cyclooxygenase (cox-2), which may play a large role in the development of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Aging is an inevitable part of life and is becoming a worldwide social, economic and health problem. This is mainly due to the fact that the increasing proportion of individuals in the advanced age category have a higher probability of developing age-related disorders, such as type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders, sarcopenia, and neurodegenerative conditions. New therapeutic approaches are still needed to decrease or slow the effects of such diseases. Advances in -omic technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, have significantly advanced our understanding of disease in multiple medical areas, as the analysis of multiple molecular networks has simultaneously provided a more integrated view of disease pathways. It is hoped that emerging hits from these analyses might be prioritized for further screening as potential novel drug targets for increasing the human healthspan in line with the lifespan. In turn, this will lead to new therapeutic strategies as well as drug development projects by the pharmaceutical industry. This book presents a series of reviews describing studies that have resulted in identification of new potential drug targets for age-related disorders. Much of this information has come from -omic comparisons of healthy and disease states or from testing the effects of new therapeutic approaches. Authored by experts from around the globe, each chapter is presented in the context of specific chronic diseases or therapeutic strategies. This book is designed for researchers in the areas of aging and chronic disease, as well as clinical scientists, physicians and stakeholders in major drug companies.