Type 4 phosphodiesterase inhibitors and their potential in the treatment of inflammatory disease

Abstract

Although symptomatologic treatment of inflammatory diseases is widely available, agents that slow or halt disease progression are limited in both number and efficacy. Elevation of intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) concentrations, for example, through inhibition of its degradation by phosphodiesterase (PDE) enzymes, has been shown to inhibit inflammation in a variety of preclinical models. Here we evaluate the data which have been generated to assess the therapeutic potential of inhibitors of Type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4) in a variety of diseases, but most particularly in asthma, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and atopic dermatitis (AD).