Secretory phospholipase A2 inhibitors. Possible new anti-inflammatory agents.

Secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) is now clearly considered to be involved in the pathogenesis of both experimental and clinical inflammatory processes. This has led academic and pharmaceutical industry researchers to expend enormous efforts to identify specific sPLA2 inhibitors to better understand the role of this enzyme in biological systems and to enable its clinical use in the treatment of inflammation and related disorders. Presented here is a brief review of the biological activity of sPLA2 inhibitors and diseases that may be postulated as their possible targets. Also discussed are problems associated with the evaluation of sPLA2 inhibitors for their selectivity and specificity.