Monday, August 30, 2010
Plantain and broccoli fiber help in Crohn’s disease........
Experimental drug PLX4032 holds promise against cancers with faulty BRAF gene....
This PLX4032 trial represents the first evidence that a treatment that targets activating BRAF mutations can induce significant tumor regressions in patients," said Dr. K. Peter Hirth, CEO of Plexxikon. He adds that "these data are particularly encouraging, with responses observed at all sites of disease, including challenging visceral lesions in the bone, liver and small bowel and they are hopeful that PLX4032 will provide similar benefit to these patients so urgently in need of effective therapies."..
Ref : http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1002011
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
FDA approves Chelsea Therapeutics' Phase II protocol for CH-4051 antifolate in rheumatoid arthritis
"Although MTX is considered the standard of care in RA, both as a monotherapy and in combination with other RA treatments, the dosing and maximal therapeutic benefit of MTX is limited by well-documented tolerability issues, long-term safety concerns and variable bioavailability," commented Dr. Simon Pedder, president and CEO of Chelsea Therapeutics. "Given that CH-4051 is metabolically stable and that all of our preclinical and clinical work suggests enhanced absorption, dramatically increased potency and improved tolerability over MTX, we believe CH-4051 will be safe and highly efficacious in a historically treatment-resistant patient population."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
New compound may be effective against Chagas' disease
Ref : http://www.asm.org/images/Communications/chagas%20-%20aac.pdf
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Researchers Identify Two FDA Approved Drugs (Decitabine and Gemcitabine) That May Fight HIV....
"The findings provide hope that such an approach will someday help the 33 million people worldwide who currently live with HIV," Mansky said.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Endothelial Function Improvement With Dietary (Cocoa) Flavanols in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease....
A new study by UCSF cardiologists and researchers lead by Dr. Yerem Yeghiazarians found that high concentrations of cocoa flavanols decrease blood pressure, improve the health of blood vessels and increase the number of circulating blood-vessel-forming cells in patients with heart disease. The findings indicate that foods rich in flavanols such as cocoa products, tea, wine, and various fruits and vegetables have a cardio-protective benefit for heart disease patients.
Flavanols are phytonutrient compounds that are found naturally in apples, grapes, tea, cocoa and cherries, which account for the antioxidant effect provided by red wine and green tea. The study found a protective effect from a cocoa drink with 375 mg of flavanols, but according to researchers, a standard or recommended dosage has not yet been defined to achieve optimal health benefit.
The UCSF team has shown for the first time that one of the possible mechanisms of flavanol's benefit is an increase in the circulation of so-called angiogenic cells in the blood. These cells, also known as early endothelial progenitor cells, are critical for the repair process after vascular injury, and perform function and maintenance roles in the endothelium. Endothelium is the thin layer of cells that line the interior wall of blood vessels.
In the current study, the benefit seen from the two-fold increase in circulating angiogenic cells was similar to that achieved by therapy with statins and with lifestyle changes such as exercise and smoking cessation. The benefit demonstrated with cocoa flavanol therapy occurred in addition to the medical regimen already being taken by study participants.
"Our data support the concept that dietary flavanols at the levels provided -- in tandem with current medical therapy -- are safe, improve cardiovascular function, and increase circulating angiogenic cells, which have previously been shown to correlate positively with long-term cardiovascular outcomes" said Yeghiazarians.
Though long-term trials examining the effects of high-flavanol diets on cardiovascular health and function are warranted, but these early findings help us understand how these compounds impact the function of damaged blood vessels...
Ref : Yerem Yeghiazarians et.al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., July 13, 2010; 56: A20.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
New Anti-Viral Drug Shows Promise for Dramatic Improvement in Hepatitis C Treatment
"Both 28- and 48-week boceprevir regimens significantly increased sustained virologic response rates which is the best definition of a cure we have compared to the 48 week control," said Dr. Kwo. "The 48-week treatment arm with 4 weeks of peg interferon lead-in and 44 weeks of peg interferon, ribavirin, and boceprevir led to the largest improvement over the control group ever reported. That's very impressive."
Researchers conclude that, best results were reported for the 103 patients who were treated for four weeks with the standard two drug regiment, followed by 44 weeks of the three-drug regimen including boceprevir: 75 percent of these patients tested negative for evidence of the virus six months after the end of treatment.
As per the lead researcher, Dr. Kwo, based on this phase 2 study, it appears that if this drug receives final approval approximately two-thirds of patients will be able to be treated successfully with 28 weeks of treatment and one-third will need 48 weeks of treatment, though this will require confirmation from the phase 3 trials, from which preliminary results were recently released.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Etoricoxib better than tramadol for postoperative pain.....
"Etoricoxib was also associated with fewer side effects and thus overall patient satisfaction with pain medication," the researchers write...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
ProstaCaid (33-ingredient comprehensive polyherbal preparation) against prostate cancer......
Herbal extracts include the extracts from turmeric root, saw palmetto berry, grape skin, pomegranate, pumpkin seed, pygeum bark, sarsaparilla root, green tea, and Japanese knotweed. Hence, it is rich in natural polyphenols, including quercetin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and ellagic acid, which have previously demonstrated anticancer potential. The unique formula contains 3 medicinal mushrooms grown on an herbal-enhanced medium. The mushrooms included are Phellinus linteus, Ganoderma lucidum, and Coriolus versicolor, each with known anticancer properties.
Researchers claim that, ProstaCaid was designed based on constituents that exhibit antiprolifetaive, antioxidant, and apoptotic activities; however, its efficacy and the mechanisms of action are yet to be examined. Researchers looked at the effectiveness of the preparation in suppressing several types of prostate cancer cell lines in culture and attempt to delineate the mechanism of action for justification in pursuing animal to determine efficicacy invivo.
Researchers conclude that, the anticancer activity of ProstaCaid may be ascribed to its polyphenolic flavonoids and curcuminoids derived from various herbs as well as other supplements, such as DIM. The preparation contains supplements such as quercetin (15%), Curcuma longa root extract complex with enhanced bioavailability (BCM-95; 20%), DIM (3%), and resveratrol (0.2%). Some of these components have shown a strong doseand time-dependent growth inhibition and apoptotic death in prostate cancer cells; 25 mM of quercetin inhibited about 50% PC3 cell growth for 72 hours. At 24 hours, 50 mM and 100 mM quercetin induced G2/M arrest and apoptosis, manifested by the decrease in G2/M-related protiens.
Researchers summarise that, ProstaCaid has anti-cancer activities in both AD and AI prostate cancer cells at very low concentrations (25 mg/mL). It also suggests that ProstaCaid inhibits cell growth and survival, at least through the inhibition of AKT and MAPK signaling. The effect on AI cell lines is especially of importance as there is presently no curative therapy for hormone refractory prostate cancer.
Researchers postulate that ProstaCaid may affect activity of Cdc2/cyclin B1 kinase by reducing this complex formation. Cdc2 could be dephosphorylated by Cdc25C and become inactive or be phosphorylated by protein kinase, such as Wee1, and then converted into an inactive form. They also suggest that more studies are needed in the future to test it and to define its upstream events in PC3 cells.
Ref : Jun Yan and Aaron E. Katz, Integr Cancer Ther 2010 9: 186