Ligelizumab for Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Maurer, Marcus; Giménez-Arnau, Ana M; Sussman, Gordon ...
The New England journal of medicine,
10/2019, Volume:
381, Issue:
14
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
In the majority of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria, most currently available therapies do not result in complete symptom control. Ligelizumab is a next-generation high-affinity humanized ...monoclonal anti-IgE antibody. Data are limited regarding the dose-response relationship of ligelizumab and the efficacy and safety of ligelizumab as compared with omalizumab and placebo in patients who have moderate-to-severe chronic spontaneous urticaria that is inadequately controlled with H
-antihistamines at approved or increased doses, alone or in combination with H
-antihistamines or leukotriene-receptor antagonists.
In a phase 2b dose-finding trial, we randomly assigned patients to receive ligelizumab at a dose of 24 mg, 72 mg, or 240 mg, omalizumab at a dose of 300 mg, or placebo, administered subcutaneously every 4 weeks for a period of 20 weeks, or a single 120-mg dose of ligelizumab. Disease symptoms of hives, itch, and angioedema were monitored by means of weekly activity scores. The main objective was to determine a dose-response relationship for the complete control of hives (indicated by a weekly hives-severity score of 0, on a scale from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating greater severity); the primary end point of this response was assessed at week 12. Complete symptom control was indicated by a weekly urticaria activity score of 0 (on a scale from 0 to 42, with higher scores indicating greater severity). Safety was analyzed throughout the trial.
A total of 382 patients underwent randomization. At week 12, a total of 30%, 51%, and 42% of the patients treated with 24 mg, 72 mg, and 240 mg, respectively, of ligelizumab had complete control of hives, as compared with 26% of the patients in the omalizumab group and no patients in the placebo group. A dose-response relationship was established. At week 12, a total of 30%, 44%, and 40% of the patients treated with 24 mg, 72 mg, and 240 mg, respectively, of ligelizumab had complete control of symptoms, as compared with 26% of the patients in the omalizumab group and no patients in the placebo group. In this small and short trial, no safety concerns regarding ligelizumab or omalizumab emerged.
A higher percentage of patients had complete control of symptoms of chronic spontaneous urticaria with ligelizumab therapy of 72 mg or 240 mg than with omalizumab or placebo. (Funded by Novartis Pharma; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02477332.).
Purpose
In the present study, we have evaluated the pharmacokinetics and the
in vivo
prostate chemopreventive activity of broccoli sprouts.
Methods
The
in vivo
pharmacokinetic profiles of ...sulforaphane (SFN) and SFN- glutathione (GSH) conjugate in rats after oral administration of 200 mg and 500 mg broccoli sprouts were analyzed. Next, 8-week old TRAMP mice were fed with dietary broccoli sprouts at two dosages (60 and 240 mg/mouse/day) for 16 weeks, and the mice were sacrificed to examine the pharmacodynamic response on prostate tumor and some biomarkers.
Results
SFN was readily released and conjugated with GSH in the rats after oral administration of broccoli sprouts. TRAMP mice fed with 240 mg broccoli sprouts/mouse/day exhibited a significant retardation of prostate tumor growth. Western blot analysis revealed that the expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, cleaved-Caspase-3, cleaved-PARP and Bax proteins were increased, but that of Keap1 and Bcl-XL proteins were decreased. In addition, the phosphorylation and/or the expression level of Akt and its downstream kinase and target proteins, e.g. mTOR, 4E-BP1 and cyclin D1, were reduced.
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that broccoli sprouts can serve as a good dietary source of SFN
in vivo
and that they have significant inhibitory effects on prostate tumorigenesis.
Recent studies have strongly indicated that certain daily-consumed dietary phytochemicals could have cancer protective effects against transgenic mice cancer models and cancers mediated by ...carcinogens, irradiations and carcinogenic metabolites derived from exogenous or endogenous sources. The cancer-protective effects elicited by these dietary compounds are believed to be due at least in part to the induction of cellular defense systems including the detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes system, as well as the inhibition of anti-inflammatory and anti-cell growth signaling pathways culminating in cell cycle arrest and/or celldeath. In this review, we summarize the potential mechanisms including the modulation of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB), cyclooxygenases-2 (COX-2), activator protein-1 (AP-1), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and the induction of phase II cellular detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes mediated mainly by the antioxidant response elements (ARE) within the promoter regions of these genes through nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a member of the Cap "n" collar (CNC) family of the basic region-leucine zipper transcription factor. In addition, we also review several animal models of carcinogenesis and cancer chemopreventive efficacy studies of these animal models using dietary chemopreventive compounds. Finally, we discuss the cellular signaling cascades mediated by Nrf2, NF-kappaB, AP-1, MAPKs and COX-2, which have been considered to play pivotal roles in tumor initiation, promotion and progression processes, and could be promising molecular targets for the design of drugs targeting cancer prevention and therapy.
To examine the regulatory crosstalk between the transcription factors Nrf2 and AP-1 in prostate cancer (PCa) by dietary cancer chemopreventive compounds (-)epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from ...green tea and sulforaphane (SFN) from cruciferous vegetables.
We performed (i) in vitro studies including luciferase reporter gene assays, MTS cell viability assays, and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in PC-3 AP-1 human PCa cells, (ii) in vivo temporal (3 h and 12 h) microarray studies in the prostate of Nrf2-deficient mice that was validated by qRT-PCR, and (iii) in silico bioinformatic analyses to delineate conserved Transcription Factor Binding Sites (TFBS) in the promoter regions of Nrf2 and AP-1, as well as coregulated genes including ATF-2 and ELK-1.
Our study shows that AP-1 activation was attenuated by the combinations of SFN (25 micromol/L) and EGCG (20 or 100 micromol/L) in PC-3 cells. Several key Nrf2-dependent genes were down-regulated (3-fold to 35-fold) after in vivo administration of the combination of EGCG (100 mg/kg) and SFN (45 mg/kg). Conserved TFBS signatures were identified in the promoter regions of Nrf2, AP-1, ATF2, and ELK-1 suggesting a potential regulatory mechanism of crosstalk between them.
Taken together, our present study of transcriptome profiling the gene expression changes induced by dietary phytochemicals SFN and EGCG in Nrf2-deficient mice and in PC-3 cells in vitro demonstrates that the effects of SFN+EGCG could be mediated via concerted modulation of Nrf2 and AP-1 pathways in the prostate.
Disease burden is particularly high in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU) patients with angioedema, and patients whose signs and symptoms are inadequately controlled by H1-antihistamines need new ...treatment options. Here we report an exploratory analysis, from the ligelizumab Phase 2b study, investigating angioedema occurrence in patients with CSU and describe the changes in angioedema following treatment with ligelizumab, omalizumab, or placebo.
Data from the ligelizumab Phase 2b core (ligelizumab 72 mg, 240 mg, omalizumab 300 mg and placebo) and extension study (ligelizumab 240 mg) were used. Changes in Weekly Angioedema Activity Score (AAS7), the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Weekly Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7) among each time point were analyzed for each treatment arm.
From a total of 297 patients analyzed, 165 (55.6%) reported angioedema occurrence at baseline, with mean AAS7 ranging 30.6—42.2 across treatment arms. At Week 12 of the core study 87.5%, 84.6%, 75.0%, and 61.0% of patients were angioedema free for ligelizumab 72 mg, 240 mg, omalizumab 300 mg, and placebo arms, respectively. In CSU patients with angioedema at baseline, the largest change from baseline in AAS7 score was observed with ligelizumab 72 mg (−31.9) at week 16 in the core study. Patients with angioedema had a higher mean DLQI at baseline (14.9—16.1) vs. patients without angioedema (10.6—12.0). In patients with angioedema, low AAS7 was significantly associated with complete response on UAS7 (UAS7 = 0) and complete normalization of DLQI (DLQI 0—1).
In the Phase 2b study, ligelizumab effectively reduced angioedema and urticaria symptoms, and improved health related quality of life in patients with moderate-to-severe CSU.
NCT02477332; NCT02649218.
ABSTRACT
Purpose
Prior studies from our laboratory have demonstrated the efficacy of a combined treatment of low doses of dietary agents curcumin and phenylethylisothiocyanate in effectively ...suppressing prostate cancer
in vitro
in human prostate cancer PC3 cells as well as
in vivo
in immunodeficient mice implanted with PC3 cells. Hence, this study was undertaken to examine the potential chemopreventive properties of the two agents against transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate.
Materials and Methods
The efficacy of AIN-76A diet supplemented with 2% curcumin or 0.05% PEITC or a combination of 1% curcumin and 0.025% PEITC for periods of 10 and 16 weeks was tested against adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis were used to examine the expression of proliferation and apoptotic biomarkers. All statistical tests were two-sided.
Results
Supplementing AIN-76A diet with dietary phytochemicals curcumin or PEITC either alone or in combination, significantly decreased incidence of prostate tumor formation (
P
= 0.0064). Immunohistochemistry revealed a significant inhibition of high-grade PIN (
P
= 0.0006, 0.000069, 0.00029 for a treatment period of 10 weeks and
P
= 0.02582, 0.022179, 0.0317 for a treatment period of 16 weeks) along with decreased proliferation and increased apoptotic index in the curcumin, PEITC or curcumin and PEITC treated animals, respectively. Furthermore, Western blot analysis revealed that downregulation of the Akt signaling pathway may in part play a role in decreasing cell proliferation ultimately retarding prostate tumor formation.
Conclusion
Our data lucidly evidence the chemopreventive merits of dietary phytochemicals curcumin and PEITC in suppressing prostate adenocarcinoma.
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Alisporivir is a novel cyclophilin-binding molecule with potent anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) activity. In vitro data from human liver microsomes suggest that alisporivir is a ...substrate and a time-dependent inhibitor (TDI) of CYP3A4. The aim of the current work was to develop a novel physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to quantitatively assess the magnitude of CYP3A4 mediated drug–drug interactions with alisporivir as the substrate or victim drug. Towards that, a Simcyp PBPK model was developed by integrating in vitro data with in vivo clinical findings to characterize the clinical pharmacokinetics of alisporivir and further assess the magnitude of drug–drug interactions. Incorporated with absorption, distribution, elimination, and TDI data, the model accurately predicted AUC, Cmax, and tmax values after single or multiple doses of alisporivir with a prediction deviation within ±32%. The model predicted an alisporivir AUC increase by 9.4-fold and a decrease by 86% when alisporivir was co-administrated with ketoconazole (CYP3A4 inhibitor) or rifampin (CYP3A4 inducer), respectively. Predictions were within ±20% of the observed changes. In conclusion, the PBPK model successfully predicted the alisporivir PK and the magnitude of drug–drug interactions.
In vitro data suggest that alisporivir is a substrate and inhibitor of CYP3A4 and P-gp. Hence, the potential for drug-drug interactions when alisporivir is co-administered with CYP3A4 and/or P-gp ...inhibitors such as ketoconazole, azithromycin and CYP3A4 inducers such as rifampin were evaluated in three separate clinical studies. Co-administration with ketoconazole (a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor) increased the Cmax , AUC and terminal elimination half-life of alisporivir by approximately two-, eight- ,and threefold, respectively. Co-administration with azithromycin (a putative weak CYP3A4 inhibitor and substrate) had no impact on the Cmax and AUC of alisporivir. Rifampin (a CYP3A4 inducer) caused an approximate 90% reduction in alisporivir Cmax and AUC and a fourfold reduction in alisporivir terminal elimination half-life. Alisporivir as an inhibitor of CYP3A4 caused a 39% increase in azithromycin exposure. The results from these studies establish alisporivir as a sensitive CYP3A4 substrate in vivo. Consequently, co-administered potent CYP3A4 inhibitors and inducers are likely to cause clinically significant changes in the exposure to alisporivir.