Endothelins: Their current status and future prospects

Endothelins are potent peptide vasoconstrictors which were discovered two decades back. Their role in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, glaucoma, diabetes mellitus and many other diseases have been studied. Inspite of a lot of research many questions regarding their pathophysiological roles still remain unanswered. Though many endothelin receptor antagonists showed promising results in animal studies they failed to show significant improvement in clinical practice. The limitations of receptor antagonists lead to the research on synthesis inhibitors and their combinations with ACE inhibitors. This article summarizes the path of endothelins from their discovery to their current status and future prospects.