[Molecular pharmacology--the road to selective pharmacotherapy?]

The intensive research in molecular pharmacology over the past few years has provided completely new insights into the mechanisms underlying pharmacological specificity. At the molecular level, signal transmission from the receptor to the cellular effector mechanism manifests far greater diversity than formerly supposed. In part, this diversity is due to the combination of separate molecular entities into a pattern specific for a given cell type. An added complication is the frequent crosstalk between different receptor signal transmissions. Thus, where specificity is concerned, only rarely is it a question of a specific molecular entity that can be targeted for the action of pharmacological agents. Moreover, disease may be due to an imbalance in signal transmissions that can only be combated by a multiple targeting approach. Accordingly, although the techniques of molecular biology are invaluable in generating new understanding of the mechanisms underlying drug specificity, they may prove disappointing as applied to actually tailoring specific drugs for the treatment of such major human ailments as hypertension or schizophrenia.