With the increasing awareness of Peyronie's disease (PD), the interest in new concept medications to treat the disorder is escalating.
Profibrogenic factors such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, endothelin (ET-1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), angiotensin (Ang) II and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), all appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of PD. β-Thymosins, pirfenidone, nitric oxide (NO) donors, phosphodiesterase (PDE)-5 inhibitors, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)/anti-tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1 reduce collagen synthesis, while decorin, follistatin, and Smad 7 exert antifibrotic effects; all have been proposed for the treatment of PD. Alternative and/or novel approaches for the treatment of PD are needed in part because of the recognized multifactorial etiology of this complex disorder. A comprehensive approach for translating available experimental information into clinically effective drug trials for the treatment of PD is needed. We propose a multi-faceted approach for drug development to generate novel drug products for the treatment of PD.
Written by:
Gur S, Kadowitz PJ, Hellstrom WJ. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
Reference: Med Hypotheses. 2012 Feb;78(2):305-11.
doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.11.008
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22154542
