Adrenomedullin: a new and promising target for drug discovery

Abstract

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a 52 amino acid peptide that plays a critical role in several diseases such as hypertension, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and renal disorders, among others. Interestingly, AM behaves as a protective agent against some pathologies, yet is a stimulating factor for other disorders. Thus, AM can be considered as a new and promising target for the design of non-peptidic modulators that could be useful for the treatment of those pathologies, by regulating AM levels or the activity of AM. A full decade on from its discovery, much more is known about AM molecular biology and pharmacology, but this knowledge still needs to be applied to the development of clinically useful drugs.

Keywords::

• adrenomedullin (AM)
• angiogenesis
• hypertension
• non-peptidic modulator

Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, grants BFU2004-02838 and SAF2005-02608.