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Systematic review with meta-analysis: impact of baseline resistance-associated substitutions on the efficacy of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir among chronic hepatitis C patients.
Singh, AD, Maitra, S, Singh, N, Tyagi, P, Ashraf, A, Kumar, R, Shalimar,
Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics. 2020;(5):490-504
Abstract
BACKGROUND The effect of baseline resistance-associated substitutions (RAS) on the sustained virologic response at 12 weeks (SVR12) among chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients receiving the second generation, pan-genotypic glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) regimen is unclear. AIM: To assess the effect of RAS on the SVR12 in CHC patients treated with G/P regimen. METHODS The EMBASE, MEDLINE and Cochrane central register of controlled trials databases were searched for relevant studies published before 1 March 2019. The principal outcome was to compare the SVR12 in CHC patients with and without baseline RAS, particularly in genotype-1, genotype-3 and direct-acting anti-virals (DAAs) failure patients. The outcomes were pooled using a random-effects model and odds ratio (OR) was calculated. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tools for randomised and nonrandomised interventional studies. RESULTS After initially identifying 410 studies, 3302 patients from 17 studies were included. Among 50 cases of virologic failures, 48% had genotype-3 infection, 44% genotype-1 infection and 36% DAA-failure patients. Baseline RAS were present in 44(88%) patients. The most common NS5a and NS3 mutations were Y93H and A166S respectively. The odds of SVR12 were significantly reduced in patients with any baseline RAS (NS3 and/or NS5a) (OR 0.32, 95%C I[0.15, 0.65], I2 = 0%) and NS5a substitutions (OR 0.36, 95%CI [0.18,0.73]). The impact of RAS on SVR12 was significant among genotype-3 patients, but not among genotype-1 or DAA-failure cases. The presence of Y93H and A30K mutations significantly impacted SVR12 rates in genotype-3 patients. CONCLUSION Baseline NS3 or NS5a RAS, especially the NS5a substitutions-A30K, Y93H, decrease the odds of achieving SVR12 in genotype-3 CHC patients.
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Combination of Intravitreal Bevacizumab and Topical Dorzolamide versus Intravitreal Bevacizumab Alone for Diabetic Macular Edema: A Randomized Contralateral Clinical Trial.
Fazel, F, Nikpour, H, Pourazizi, M
BioMed research international. 2020;:6794391
Abstract
PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy of three intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections versus the same combined with 2% of topical dorzolamide in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). METHODS In this randomized double-masked clinical trial, 32 eyes of 16 treatment-naive patients with bilateral DME were enrolled. The eyes were randomly assigned to receive three monthly injections of IVB (1.25 mg) plus topical dorzolamide 2% twice daily or IVB (1.25 mg) plus topical artificial tear twice daily. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was the primary outcome of the study followed by the central macular thickness (CMT) and central macular volume (CMV) as the secondary outcomes. RESULTS Mean BCVA changes were insignificant in both groups. It changed from 0.21 ± 0.08 logMAR at baseline to 0.23 ± 0.09 (P=0.24) in the combination group and from 0.18 ± 0.09 logMAR to 0.21 ± 0.09 (P=0.11) in the IVB alone group, at 3 months, respectively. Changes in mean CMT and CMV were significant in both groups. However, the difference between the groups was not significant at all the visits. In the study, no major ocular complication or systemic side effects were noted regarding IVB or topical dorzolamide. CONCLUSION This randomized contralateral clinical trial demonstrated that adjuvant topical dorzolamide with IVB injection had no additional effects on IVB in the treatment of DME over a three-month course. This trial is registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials under the registration code IRCT20131229015975N5.
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Surufatinib in Chinese Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Differentiated Thyroid Cancer and Medullary Thyroid Cancer: A Multicenter, Open-Label, Phase II Trial.
Chen, J, Ji, Q, Bai, C, Zheng, X, Zhang, Y, Shi, F, Li, X, Tang, P, Xu, Z, Huang, R, et al
Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association. 2020;(9):1245-1253
Abstract
Background: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine tumor with an increasing incidence. Limited treatment options are available for patients with advanced or recurrent metastatic disease, resulting in a poor prognosis. Surufatinib targets multiple kinases (vascular endothelial growth factor receptors, fibroblast growth factor receptor-1, and colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor) involved in tumor angiogenesis and tumor immune evasion. Surufatinib has demonstrated promising antitumor activity in various advanced solid tumors. This study aimed to determine the objective response rate (ORR) of surufatinib in patients with locally advanced or distant metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) or medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). Methods: This Phase II open-label study by Simon's two-stage design was conducted at 10 sites across China. Patients with radioiodine (RAI)-refractory DTC with locally advanced disease or distant metastasis (DTC1 group); patients who received limited initial surgery and then developed locally advanced unresectable recurrences and were not considered candidates for RAI therapy due to residual normal thyroid tissue (DTC2 group); or patients with MTC with locally advanced disease or distant metastasis (MTC group) were enrolled. A total of 59 patients were enrolled (26 in DTC1, 6 in DTC2, and 27 in MTC) and received 300 mg surufatinib daily in 28-day cycles. The primary endpoint was ORR as determined by the investigators. Results: Overall ORR was 23.2% [95% confidence interval, CI 12.98-36.42]: 21.7% in the DTC1 cohort, 33.3% in the DTC2 cohort, and 22.2% in the MTC cohort. Forty-nine patients achieved disease control (87.5% [CI 75.93-94.82]): 87.0% in the DTC1 cohort, 83.3% in the DTC2 cohort, and 88.9% in the MTC cohort. Median time to response was 59.0 days, and 59.0, 85.5, and 59.0 days in the DTC1, DTC2, and MTC cohorts. Overall median progression-free survival was 11.1 months [CI 5.98-16.69]; 11.1 months in DTC1 and MTC cohorts, while the DTC2 cohort had not reached the median at the data cutoff. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events grade ≥3 were hypertension (20.3%), proteinuria (11.9%), and then elevated blood pressure, hypertriglyceridemia, and pulmonary inflammation (5.1% each). Conclusions: Surufatinib demonstrated promising efficacy with a tolerable and manageable safety profile for patients with locally advanced or metastatic MTC, RAI-refractory DTC, or locally advanced unresectable recurrences unable to receive RAI.
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Trifluoromethanesulfonamide vs. Non-Fluorinated Sulfonamides in Oxidative Sulfamidation of the C=C Bond: An In Silico Study.
Kuzmin, AV, Moskalik, MY, Shainyan, BA
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 2020;(21)
Abstract
A theoretical analysis of the reaction of oxidative sulfamidation of several alkenes was performed in order to explain the various experimental observations and different reactivity of triflamide and non-fluorinated sulfonamides. Transformations occurring in the system alkene-sulfonamide in the presence of oxidative system (ButOCl + NaI) were analyzed at the MP2/DGDZVP//B3LYP/DGDZVP level of theory using the IEF-PCM method for taking into account the solvent acetonitrile (MeCN) effect. As the model substrates, styrene, trimethyl(vinyl)silane, dimethyl(divinyl)silane and diphenyl(divinyl)silane were chosen and mesylamide, triflamide, tosylamide and p-nosylamide were taken as the reagents. ButOI generated from ButOCl and NaI reacts with sulfonamides to give N-iodinated sulfonamides RSO2NHI and RSO2NI2 as active intermediates, the iodinating activity of the latter being notably higher. The analysis allowed to answer such challenging questions as different reactivity of nonfluorinated sulfonamides leading to aziridination and of triflamide resulting in the formation the main products of bis-triflamidation, or different regioselectivity of halogenation of styrene and trimethyl(vinyl)silane caused by a linear intermediate iodonium cation in the former case and a cyclic one in the latter.
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Lack of Detection of the Analgesic Properties of PF-05089771, a Selective Nav 1.7 Inhibitor, Using a Battery of Pain Models in Healthy Subjects.
Siebenga, P, van Amerongen, G, Hay, JL, McDonnell, A, Gorman, D, Butt, R, Groeneveld, GJ
Clinical and translational science. 2020;(2):318-324
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Abstract
Sodium channel blockers are used for the treatment of pain, but this is limited by the lack of selectivity for different sodium channel subtypes, which can result in central nervous system and cardiovascular side effects. As such, there is special interest in the Nav 1.7 subtype, which is expressed predominantly in nociceptive and sympathetic neurons. The aim was to demonstrate analgesic properties of a potent selective Nav 1.7 sodium channel blocker, PF-05089771, alone and concomitantly with pregabalin in healthy subjects using a battery of human evoked pain models. This was a double-blind, double-dummy, randomized, placebo-controlled, five-period cross-over study with PF-05089771 alone and PF-05089771 concomitantly with pregabalin as treatment arms with pregabalin, ibuprofen, and placebo as control arms (NCT02349607). A battery of human evoked pain models was used to investigate analgesic properties of PF-05089771. Twenty-five subjects were enrolled in the study of which 23 subjects completed all five periods. PF-05089771 alone did not differ from placebo on the primary pain end points. The same holds when comparing PF-05089771 concomitantly with pregabalin and pregabalin alone. Pregabalin showed significant effects relative to placebo on thermal pain on the normal skin and UVB skin (least squares means with 90% confidence interval: 0.63 (0.32-0.93) and 0.53 (0.11-0.96)), pressure stimulation (1.10 (1.04-1.18)), and cold pressor (1.22 (1.14-1.32)). Ibuprofen demonstrated significant effects on thermal pain UVB skin (1.26 (0.82-1.70)) and pressure stimulation assessment (1.08 (1.01-1.15)), consistent with historical results. This study did not demonstrate analgesic properties of PF-05089771 alone or concomitantly with pregabalin in a battery of pain models.
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Drug Resistance Assessment Following Administration of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Fusion Inhibitor Presatovir to Participants Experimentally Infected With RSV.
Stray, K, Perron, M, Porter, DP, Anderson, F, Lewis, SA, Perry, J, Miller, M, Cihlar, T, DeVincenzo, J, Chien, JW, et al
The Journal of infectious diseases. 2020;(9):1468-1477
Abstract
BACKGROUND Presatovir is an oral respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion inhibitor targeting RSV F protein. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in healthy adults experimentally infected with RSV (Memphis-37b), presatovir significantly reduced viral load and clinical disease severity in a dose-dependent manner. METHODS Viral RNA from nasal wash samples was amplified and the F gene sequenced to monitor presatovir resistance. Effects of identified amino acid substitutions on in vitro susceptibility to presatovir, viral fitness, and clinical outcome were assessed. RESULTS Twenty-eight treatment-emergent F substitutions were identified. Of these, 26 were tested in vitro; 2 were not due to lack of recombinant virus recovery. Ten substitutions did not affect presatovir susceptibility, and 16 substitutions reduced RSV susceptibility to presatovir (2.9- to 410-fold). No substitutions altered RSV susceptibility to palivizumab or ribavirin. Frequency of phenotypically resistant substitutions was higher with regimens containing lower presatovir dose and shorter treatment duration. Participants with phenotypic presatovir resistance had significantly higher nasal viral load area under the curve relative to those without, but substitutions did not significantly affect peak viral load or clinical manifestations of RSV disease. CONCLUSIONS Emergence of presatovir-resistant RSV occurred during therapy but did not significantly affect clinical efficacy in participants with experimental RSV infection.
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EMT-inducing transcription factor ZEB1-associated resistance to the BCL-2/BCL-XL inhibitor is overcome by BIM upregulation in ovarian clear cell carcinoma cells.
Inoue-Yamauchi, A, Oda, H
Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2020;(3):612-617
Abstract
Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is an aggressive subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer, which generally exhibits chemoresistance. Effective therapy for OCCC is currently unavailable, requiring the development of new therapeutic strategies. ABT-263 (navitoclax), an inhibitor of the anti-apoptotic BCL-2/BCL-XL, has a potent ability of inducing death in cancer cells; however, the therapeutic effect of ABT-263 in OCCC remains unclear. Epithelial cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to acquire a mesenchymal phenotype, which is known to contribute to the development of resistance against therapeutic agents. In this study, we revealed that the sensitivity of OCCC cells to ABT-263 was associated with the epithelial/mesenchymal status of the cells. While the OCCC cells with an epithelial phenotype were ABT-263-sensitive, those with a mesenchymal phenotype were ABT-263-resistant, which was accompanied by an insufficient expression of the pro-apoptotic BH3 protein BIM. Mechanistically, the EMT-inducing transcription factor, ZEB1 down-regulated BIM transcription by binding to BIM promoter, resulting in resistance to ABT-263. It is noteworthy that ZEB1-associated ABT-263 resistance was overcome by an HDAC inhibitor, FK228 (romidepsin), through the up-regulation of BIM. In summary, our study provides evidence for a mechanism for ABT-263 resistance in OCCC cells as well as a potential therapeutic strategy to overcome it.
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The influence of gastric motility on the intraluminal behavior of fosamprenavir.
Braeckmans, M, Brouwers, J, Masuy, I, Servais, C, Tack, J, Augustijns, P
European journal of pharmaceutical sciences : official journal of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2020;:105117
Abstract
In fasting conditions, the gastrointestinal system contracts according to the interdigestive migrating motor complex (MMC), in which phases of quiescence (MMC phase I) alternate with phases of medium (MMC phase II) to very strong (MMC phase III) contractions. The time of drug intake relative to this cyclic motility pattern may cause variations in formulation behavior. To explore this hypothesis, a cross-over study was performed in healthy volunteers with an immediate release tablet of fosamprenavir (Telzir) which was administered in either MMC phase I or MMC phase II, as determined by high-resolution manometry. In the intestinal tract, fosamprenavir is rapidly hydrolyzed to the active compound amprenavir by alkaline phosphatases. Drug concentrations of both prodrug and drug were determined in the stomach and duodenum and linked to simultaneously assessed systemic concentrations. In 5 out of 6 healthy volunteers, the gastric release of fosamprenavir and the systemic uptake of amprenavir were affected by the MMC phase in which the tablet was administered. The intragastric disintegration of the tablet was faster and less variable after administration in MMC phase II, resulting in faster and less variable uptake of amprenavir in the systemic circulation. Mean plasma tmax values were 157 (±72.0) and 73.3 (±27.3) min after administration in MMC phase I and MMC phase II, respectively. The study clearly identified the time of oral drug intake relative to the interdigestive motility pattern as a possible source of variation in gastrointestinal drug behavior and absorption.
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Comparative efficacy and safety of tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib as monotherapy for active rheumatoid arthritis.
Ho Lee, Y, Gyu Song, G
Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics. 2020;(4):674-681
Abstract
WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE Several clinical trials have attempted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib as monotherapy in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but their relative efficacy and safety as monotherapy remain unclear due to the lack of data from head-to-head comparison trials. The relative efficacy and safety of tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib as monotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were assessed. METHODS We performed a Bayesian network meta-analysis to combine direct and indirect evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and examine the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib as monotherapy relative to placebo in patients with RA. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Five RCTs comprising 1547 patients met the inclusion criteria. Compared with placebo, tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib as monotherapy showed a significantly higher American College of Rheumatology 20% (ACR20) response rate. Peficitinib 150 mg monotherapy showed the highest ACR20 response rate (odds ratio, 17.24.39; 95% credible interval, 6.57-51.80). The ranking probability based on the surface under the cumulative ranking curve indicated that peficitinib 150 mg had the highest probability of being the best treatment for achieving the ACR20 response rate, followed by peficitinib 100 mg, filgotinib 200 mg, filgotinib 100 mg, tofacitinib 5 mg, upadacitinib 15 mg, baricitinib 4 mg and placebo. However, the number of patients who experienced serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the JAK inhibitors, except for tofacitinib 5 mg, and placebo. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION All five JAK inhibitors-tofacitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, filgotinib and peficitinib-were efficacious monotherapy interventions for active RA, and differences were noted in their efficacy and safety in monotherapy.
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Occurrence of abscesses during treatment with pazopanib in metastatic renal cancer: a case report.
Puliafito, I, Russo, A, Sciacca, D, Puglisi, C, Giuffrida, D
Journal of medical case reports. 2020;(1):7
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pazopanib is a multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of renal cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. Its use is commonly associated with a number of side effects, such as hemorrhagic diathesis, neutropenia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, increased serum aspartate aminotransferase, increased serum alanine aminotransferase, decreased serum glucose, increased serum bilirubin, decreased serum phosphate and magnesium, fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, anorexia, proteinuria, and hypothyroidism. Abscesses of metastases caused by pazopanib administration are rarely reported in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION We report a case of abscesses of lung metastases related to pazopanib in a patient with metastatic renal cancer. The patient was a 53-year-old Caucasian man who developed abscesses of lung metastases during the first 3 months of treatment with pazopanib. The abscesses resolved after 1 month by stopping pazopanib and administering adequate antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that abscesses of metastases could be a rare side effect occurring during treatment with pazopanib in patients with renal cancer.