New drug therapy to help kidney
transplantation
A new pre-operative drug therapy to reduce antibodies in
kidney patients may increase their chance for kidney transplantation and decrease
the likelihood of organ rejection, says a study. The new therapy was found to
reduce antibodies with greater success than with traditional methods in a
clinical trial spanning over three years. ‘This study is important because it
has the potential to change the way we approach kidney transplantation,’ said
the study’s principal investigator, E Steve Woodle from University of
Cincinnati.
Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins which, in most
instanceks, are good because they help fight infection, but people can also
make antibodies that work against other humans, which is often a major barrier
to transplantation. Since 2008, the researchers have been on forefront of
developing therapies that target plasma cells–the cells that make antibodies.
These new therapies used bortezomib, a drug already
approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of multiple
myeloma, a type of cancer. The traditional method for reducing antibody levels,
Woodle said, uses a blood product termed intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). In
this first-of-its-kind trial, however, 50 kidney transplant candidates with
high antibody levels were treated with the new regimen. ‘The rejection rates
were low and the chances of the patient developing a new antibody against their
kidney were very low,’ Woodle said. ‘This also may benefit 10 to 20 percent of
heart and pancreas transplant candidates who often have such high levels of
antibodies that transplantation is nearly impossible,’ Woodle said. The study
appeared in the American Journal of Transplantation.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
27.12.2014
Blood-based therapy an answer to
Ebola?
With no drugs available to treat Ebola, all eyes are now
on a therapy that had largely been relegated to the history books. The therapy
is all about transfusing patients with blood plasma donated by survivors, which
contains antibodies against the virus, scientific journal Nature reported.
Clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) have started in the past
few weeks in Liberia and are due to begin soon in Guinea and Sierra Leone. If
the therapy saves lives, the approach could quickly be scaled up.
Success would also raise awareness of CPT’s potential to
treat other new and emerging infectious diseases for which there are no readily
available effective drugs or vaccines, such as SARS, avian influenza and Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). ‘Clinical trials of convalescent plasma
should be considered in other emerging infections,’ David Heymann, infectious
disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and
chair of Public Health England, was quoted as saying.
Results from the first safety and efficacy trials in West
Africa are expected within weeks. If the therapy is effective, many of the
thousands of Ebola survivors there will be potential donors, each capable of
giving up to one litre of plasma every two weeks. ‘Even relatively poor
countries often have a good enough infrastructure for processing blood to use
the therapy,’ Heymann said. However, adequate screening for pathogens in
donated blood can be an issue in poorer countries.
In the CPT Ebola trials, a chemical is being added to the
donated blood. When the mixture is exposed to ultraviolet light, the compound
irreversibly crosslinks the DNA and RNA of pathogens, preventing their
replication. Many scientists have long argued that CPT has been wrongly
neglected, both as a therapy for emerging diseases and in preparation for
future unknown threats. Today, the approach is gaining ground. Trials of
convalescent plasma are beginning for the treatment of patients with MERS,
which has infected 938 people and killed 343 of them since it was discovered in
2012, the report added.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
27.12.2014
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and
failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success
Dale Carnegie
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