The link between disease and the production of toxic oxygen species by inflammatory cells provides opportunities for molecular and cellular biochemical approaches to alleviate a variety of human afflictions. Recent progress in understanding molecular events regulating superoxide production by leukocytes parallels new developments on the molecular basis of tissue damage by activated oxygen species. Characterization of newly discovered molecular constituents of the superoxide generating system and analysis of their organization in the plasma membrane provides clues to appropriate and inappropriate activation mechanisms in vivo. Improved methods for monitoring cellular oxidative damage including DNA adducts, modified proteins, lipid peroxides, and cytotoxic aldehydes permit evaluation of specific molecular targets in injured cells. Pathophysiological evidence from such diverse areas as the study of ischemia, atherosclerosis, pulmonary inflammation and other inflammatory diseases clearly point to key roles of toxic oxygen species in the genesis or progression of such conditions. Thus, synergy between biochemistry and pathophysiology delineates paths to prevention, control or therapy. The central goal of the Symposium is to facilitate a synthesis of the molecular views of biochemists, physicians, and leukocyte biologists on the production of activated oxygen species by inflammatory cells, the biochemistry of the tissue products generated, and their roles in disease.
