Targeting Opioid Receptors for Innovative Therapies: Present and Emerging Concepts in Opioid Cure

Dear Colleagues,

The first mentions of the use of opioids for therapeutic purposes have already appeared since the 4th century BC, making this group of substances one of the oldest known to mankind. In today's medicine, opioids are most often used to relieve pain, both acute (e.g., postoperative) and chronic. Apart from that, pharmacological agents that alter the opioid system’s activity are commonly used for the treatment of alcohol dependence (e.g., naltrexone). The undoubtful role of the opioid system in neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease), cardiovascular diseases, or cancer development has been widely discussed in the scientific literature, which resulted in the description of new molecular mechanisms, ultimately leading to the development of new pharmacotherapies.

We must be aware that the administration of opioids may cause many side effects (e.g., nausea and vomiting), and prolonged therapy is inducing tolerance to opioids, thus reducing their effectiveness in the future, making it necessary to increase the dose or completely change the pharmacotherapy. Moreover, irresponsible usage of pain relievers (e.g., fentanyl) is dangerous due to the possible development of opioid dependency.

Due to the overall importance of the opioid system, authors are invited to submit original and review articles to contribute to the understanding of the current state of the opioid receptors as potential therapeutic targets, as well as describe the new role of these receptors in various diseases, to be published in this Special Issue of Pharmaceuticals. The proposed topics cover therapy for pain, addiction, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer.

Dr. Piotr Poznanski
Dr. Marzena Łazarczyk
Dr. Dominik Skiba
Guest Editors

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• opioid system
• brain injury
• pain
• neurodegenerative diseases
• addiction
• cardiovascular diseases
• cancer