Preface

This 5^th volume of the book series “Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry” consists of a compendium of useful reviews on topics of wide interest to researchers in the fields of Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology. The contributions are separated into different therapeutic areas, along with two reviews on general enabling technologies. The objective of “Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry” is to periodically publish collections of comprehensive overviews based on areas of topical interest, written by leading experts in their respective fields. Initial versions of these reviews have been published in the journals Current Medicinal Chemistry, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, and Current Pharmaceutical Design, and the authors have had the opportunity to update their original manuscripts prior to publication in the current volume.

The initial section of this volume entails three reviews in the area of Central Nervous System therapeutics. The first by Scheper et al. summarizes current understanding on the role of the β-amyloid peptides in Alzheimer's disease. The second by Münch and colleagues entails neuroprotection for both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and the third by Blokland et al. is on the topic of phosphodiesterase inhibition to improve cognition.

The Biologics section is next, containing reviews by Shoji-Moskowitz et al. on non-viral approaches for gene therapy, Jans and Wagstaff on peptides that can cross a membrane barrier, and Apostolopoulos and co-workers on peptidic vaccines for cancer.

The next section has two reviews in the area of Oncology. The first by Overhand et al. deals with geranylgeranyl transferases, the second by Besson el al. focuses on voltage-gated sodium channels as targets for cancer.

There are then four reviews that follow covering separate therapeutic areas. The first is a contribution in the area of Infectious Disease by Tanikawa on hepatitis B and C, Cardiovascular Diseases by Calderon et al. on nitric oxide releasing drugs, Endocrinology covering benign prostatic hypertrophy by Malawska and Kulig, and Inflammation on prostaglandin D2 receptor modulators by Ulven and Kostenis.

Finally, topics in the last section on Enabling Technologies include the concept of privileged structures in medicinal chemistry by Costantino and Barlocco, and the use of molecular modeling with application to acetylcholinesterase by Lushington et al.

We hope that Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry becomes an invaluable resource for the benefit of researchers in various aspects of therapeutic drug discovery. We wish to thank the authors who have contributed to this volume, and Mahmood Alam, Samina Khan, Qurat-ul-Ain and Matthew Honan of Bentham Science Publishers for their efforts.