Phosphodiesterase as a novel target in Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

The Phosphodiesterase inhibitors have been used for the treatment of non-malignant conditions like asthma, pulmonary hypertension and erectile dysfunction etc, but the recent research suggests that they have great therapeutic value in the adjunctive therapy of Cancer. This article reviews the various substances elevating the intracellular cyclic AMP levels such as cAMP analogues and Phosphodiesterases inhibitors to induce apoptosis selectively in a variety of cancer cell lines with out affecting the normal cells. Their usefulness in the adjunctive therapy of cancer is explained.