Description
Glucocorticoids are widely used to treat a variety of inflammatory and immune diseases. There have been major advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms whereby glucocorticoids suppress inflammation, based on recent developments in understanding how post-translational changes in histones affects DNA packaging and gene transcription. The determination of the crystal structure of the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the human glucocorticoid receptor (GR) has increased our understanding of how ligands interact with GR and are stimulating rational drug design based on space-filling structures with dissociated properties. This may have important clinical implications, leading to a better understanding of the inflammatory mechanisms of different diseases and the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs.
