Inflammatory signal transduction in Crohn's disease and novel therapeutic approaches

Although signal transduction phenomena are well understood in vitro, their relevance for physiology and pathophysiology remains obscure. Recent years, however, have seen a plethora of attempts to link cell biochemistry and disease. At the Luxembourg conference it was attempted to link basal science to disease. In my presentation I focused on our research on stress activated kinases and other signalling elements in this respect in a variety of pro-inflammatory conditions. Knowledge of these pathways has now led to new therapeutic approaches, especially in Crohn's disease, which will be the subject of this commentary. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.