Section Review: Retinoids: Biological Function and Use in the Treatment of Dermatological Diseases: Pulmonary-Allergy, Dermatological, Gastrointestinal & Arthritis

Abstract

Retinoids have increasingly gained acceptance for single agent or adjuvant therapy to treat dermatological diseases such as acne, photoageing, cutaneous neoplasia, psoriasis, disorders of keratinisation and various skin cancers. As potent biological modulators which regulate numerous cellular processes, retinoids have been administered as both chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agents and offer a viable alternative to classical cancer chemotherapy. Although retinoid treatment has shown considerable promise, certain side-effects have limited chronic administration. As a result of recent discoveries regarding the biological function of retinoids and retinoid receptors, several new treatment strategies have been developed, including the application of receptor selective synthetic retinoids, combination therapies with other hormones or chemotherapeutic agents, and novel formulations. This has resulted in a new generation of retinoids and retinoid treatments which are in clinical development and which exhibit improvements in the therapeutic index. Preliminary clinical results with the new retinoids in conjunction with numerous cell based studies have provided further insight into the action of retinoids, retinoid receptor function and the likely future direction of retinoid therapy.