Despite recent advances in the planning and delivery of radiation therapy in cancer treatment, acute toxicity and potential long-term side effects often limit its use. Given that over half of all patients with cancer receive radiation therapy, substantial effort is being invested in the development of approaches to improve outcomes following treatment while sparing effects on normal tissues. In their Review article, Kirsch and colleagues discuss recent advances in the understanding of the signalling pathways mediating the cellular response to radiation and the mechanisms by which tumours evade treatment, focusing on progress in the development of a new generation of targeted radiosensitizers and radioprotectors. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with chronic inflammation, which leads to progressive obstruction of the airways, but this is not effectively targeted by current treatments. Barnes overviews the inflammatory processes involved in the pathophysiology of COPD, highlighting promising emerging therapeutics, including antioxidants and kinase inhibitors, and target pathways such as epigenetic regulation of inflammatory gene expression and cellular senescence. Challenges and future directions for drug development for COPD are also highlighted. Finally, Longo and Massa review the mammalian family of neurotrophins, proteins that are involved in the regulation of neuronal survival and maintenance of synaptic plasticity, describing their multiple receptors and complex downstream signalling pathways, as well as their normal and pathological effects in the brain. They discuss emerging opportunities for therapeutically modulating neurotrophin receptor activity for the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, particularly the selective targeting of individual neurotrophin receptors using small-molecule ligands.