title: Drugs from nature targeting inflammation (DNTI): a successful Austrian interdisciplinary network project.
abstract: Inflammation is part of numerous pathological conditions, which are lacking satisfying treatment and effective concepts of prevention. A national research network project, DNTI, involving scientists from six Austrian universities as well as several external partners aimed to identify and characterize natural products capable of combating inflammatory processes specifically in the cardiovascular system. The combined use of computational techniques with traditional knowledge, high-tech chemical analysis and synthesis, and a broad range of in vitro, cell-based, and in vivo pharmacological models led to the identification of a series of promising anti-inflammatory drug lead candidates. Mechanistic studies contributed to a better understanding of their mechanism of action and delivered new knowledge on the molecular level of inflammatory processes. Herein, the used approaches and selected highlights of the results of this interdisciplinary project are presented.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Waltenberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Atanas G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Atanasov
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Elke H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Heiss
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bernhard
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Judith M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rollinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, Center of Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Johannes M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Breuss
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Chemistry and CMBI, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Botany and Pharmacognosy, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Chlodwig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences/Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bochkov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marko D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Mihovilovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Verena M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Dirsch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stuppner
keywords: Computational chemistry; Drug research; Natural products; Pharmacology; Phytochemistry; Synthetic chemistry