Vinpocetine as a potent antiinflammatory agent.

C hronic inflammatory processes are related to conditions as distinct as atherosclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, asthma, systemic lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The continuous use of antiinflammatory agents is required to treat these conditions. However, the longterm use of these drugs creates an additional challenge: the high frequency of severe side effects. For instance, the longterm use of corticosteroids and cyclooxigenase (COX) inhibitors can dramatically increase the risk for cardiovascular problems and diabetes (1). Currently, there are great efforts to discover antiinflammatory drugs that can be used for long periods with minimal side effects. In PNAS, Jeon et al. (2) show that vinpocetine, a phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor known for its minimal side effects (3, 4) and great potential in cognitive enhancement (5–8), also has potent antiinflammatory action. Surprisingly, the antiinflammatory action of vinpocetine is caused by a direct inhibition of the IκB kinase complex (IKK) rather than PDE blockade.