Abstract
This Forum was conceived as a means to usher in the age of H2S-based therapeutics and H2S-aided regenerative medicine. H2S prodrugs—now in advanced stages of pharmaceutical development—will soon be available for treatment of a remarkably wide range of serious health conditions with minimal side effects/adverse reactions. Also foreseeable is the advent of a time in which the “one drug-one target” paradigm will be phased out, whereas multitargeted H2S prodrugs find expanding roles in the treatment of highly complex disease states—such paradigm change will prevent polypharmacy and bring about truly disease-modifying outcomes. In the seven articles comprising Parts A and B of this Forum (2–4, 6–9), international experts survey remarkably diverse landscapes of small and large H2S donor molecules, H2S release profiles and mechanisms, pharmacophores/metabolic routes, and potential therapeutic or prophylactic indications. Donors of related sulfur species, such as persufides, SO2, carbon oxysulfide (COS), and carbon disulfide, are examined as well. This Editorial highlights a few of the insights shared by the 32 Forum contributors and includes a proposed classification of H2S/COS prodrugs that is intended to aid in the systematization of this burgeoning field.
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