Polymine-traveled pathways: Significance in health and disease

Abstract

This chapter discusses the significance of polyamine-traveled pathways in health and diseases. It also discusses their roles in various disease processes. The synthesis of specific inhibitors of polyamine metabolism and polyamine analogs has confirmed the physiological importance of polyamines in cell growth and differentiation and has opened the possibility of their use in the development of drugs to treat hyperproliferative diseases and parasitic infections. All eukaryotic cells contain polyamines that are small aliphatic cations. The compounds that inhibit their synthesis or compete for their sites have been synthesized. The role that polyamines have in some of the diseases is summarized in the chapter. Researchers have used in vitro and in vivo models to define the role of polyamines in cellular function. The specific inhibitors of polyamine synthesis have allowed researchers to examine the significance of polyamines in various diseases offering hope for using these compounds in clinical trials. One of these inhibitors, α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), is used in clinical studies involving patients infected with African trypanosomiasis. The significance of polyamines in cardiovascular diseases is much less understood.