Drug Des Dev Ther
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A small percentage of patients with asthma have uncontrolled symptoms and frequent exacerbations, despite treatment with inhaled corticosteroids and other agents. It has become clear that different subtypes of this severe, treatment-resistant group exist due to different mechanisms of the disease. All such patients require detailed assessment in specialist centers to characterize the disease and assess treatment adherence. ⋯ Reslizumab is a newly licensed antibody that blocks binding of IL-5 to its receptor. Here, we discuss the significance of clinical data of this drug, which show up to 50% reduction in exacerbation rates, together with modest but significant improvements in lung function and quality of life, in those with persistent eosinophilia. The combination of reslizumab with mepolizumab and benralizumab, which also target IL-5, may be a useful addition to the therapeutic armamentarium in a selected group of patients with severe asthma.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized trial of betahistine mesilate tablets as augmentation for oxcarbazepine and carbamazepine in treating vestibular paroxysmia.
Vestibular paroxysmia (VP) is a rare episodic peripheral vestibular disorder. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy and acceptability of carbamazepine (CBZ) plus betahistine mesilate tablets (BMT) (CBZ+BMT) and oxcarbazepine (OXC) plus BMT (OXC+BMT) in treating VP, and investigated whether the synergistic effect could be increased along with the increased dose of BMT. ⋯ These results demonstrated that OXC+BMT may be suitable as an alternative method in VP patients with CBZ hypersensitivity, and the synergistic effect could be increased along with the increased dose of BMT.
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Glyburide (also known as glibenclamide) is a second-generation sulfonylurea drug that inhibits sulfonylurea receptor 1 (Sur1) at nanomolar concentrations. Long used to target KATP (Sur1-Kir6.2) channels for the treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2, glyburide was recently repurposed to target Sur1-transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (Trpm4) channels in acute central nervous system injury. Discovered nearly two decades ago, SUR1-TRPM4 has emerged as a critical target in stroke, specifically in large hemispheric infarction, which is characterized by edema formation and life-threatening brain swelling. ⋯ Additionally, recent work linked SUR1-TRPM4 to secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) induced by recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in activated brain endothelial cells, with blockade of SUR1-TRPM4 by glyburide reducing MMP-9 and hemorrhagic transformation in preclinical models with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. The recently completed GAMES (Glyburide Advantage in Malignant Edema and Stroke) clinical trials on patients with large hemispheric infarctions treated with intravenous glyburide (RP-1127) revealed promising findings with regard to brain swelling (midline shift), MMP-9, functional outcomes and mortality. Here, we review key elements of the basic science, preclinical experiments and clinical studies, both retrospective and prospective, on glyburide in focal cerebral ischemia and stroke.
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Clinically available intravenous (IV) nitric oxide (NO) donor drugs such as nitroglycerin (GTN) cause systemic hypotension and/or tolerance development. In a porcine model, novel NO donor compounds - the organic mononitrites of 1,2-propanediol (PDNO) - were compared to GTN with regard to pulmonary selectivity and tolerance development. The vasodilatory effects of inorganic nitrite were investigated. ⋯ PDNO is a vasodilator with selectivity for pulmonary circulation exhibiting no cross-tolerance to GTN, but GTN causes non selective vasodilatation with substantial tolerance development in the pulmonary and systemic circulations. Inorganic nitrite has no vasodilatory properties at relevant doses.
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The effect of sevoflurane on the nervous system is controversial. As an adjuvant anesthetic, dexmedetomidine has a protective role in various nerve-injury diseases. We investigated the effect of dexmedetomidine on injury to the developing brain induced by sevoflurane anesthesia, and if autophagy and mitochondrial damage are involved in the neuroprotective effects of dexmedetomidine. ⋯ Sevoflurane exposure during the third trimester caused neurological injury to rat pups. Autophagy and abnormalities in mitochondrial dynamics were involved in this neurotoxic process and were antagonized by dexmedetomidine.