ABSTRACT
Although the occurrence of lipoxygenases in plants had been known for some time, 1 the discovery of 12-HPETE, 2 the first evidence of lipoxygenase activity in mammalian tissue, was reported as recently as 1974. In the intervening years, remarkable progress has been made in characterizing this alternate arachidonic acid metabolic cascade by elucidating the structure of and synthesizing such lipoxygenase-derived products as LTA4, HPETEs, HETEs, LTB4, the lipoxins, and the peptidoleukotrienes LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4 (formerly known collectively as "slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis" SRS-A). 3 - 6 Since these mediators possess varied and potent pharmacological actions, 7 , 8 inhibition of leukotriene biosythesis 9-15 may conceivably lead to new therapeutic agents for the treatment of anaphylactic and inflammatory disease states. 16-19
