Beta-lactam antibiotics (βLA) are the most commonly used antibiotics in the intensive care unit (ICU). ICU patients present many pathophysiological features that cause pharmacokinetic (PK) and ...pharmacodynamic (PD) specificities, leading to the risk of underdosage. The French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT) and the French Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine (SFAR) have joined forces to provide guidelines on the optimization of beta-lactam treatment in ICU patients.
A consensus committee of 18 experts from the two societies had the mission of producing these guidelines. The entire process was conducted independently of any industry funding. A list of questions formulated according to the PICO model (Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes) was drawn-up by the experts. Then, two bibliographic experts analysed the literature published since January 2000 using predefined keywords according to PRISMA recommendations. The quality of the data identified from the literature was assessed using the GRADE® methodology. Due to the lack of powerful studies having used mortality as main judgement criteria, it was decided, before drafting the recommendations, to formulate only "optional" recommendations.
After two rounds of rating and one amendment, a strong agreement was reached by the SFPT-SFAR guideline panel for 21 optional recommendations and a recapitulative algorithm for care covering four areas: (i) pharmacokinetic variability, (ii) PK-PD relationship, (iii) administration modalities, and (iv) therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). The most important recommendations regarding βLA administration in ICU patients concerned (i) the consideration of the many sources of PK variability in this population; (ii) the definition of free plasma concentration between four and eight times the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the causative bacteria for 100% of the dosing interval as PK-PD target to maximize bacteriological and clinical responses; (iii) the use of continuous or prolonged administration of βLA in the most severe patients, in case of high MIC bacteria and in case of lower respiratory tract infection to improve clinical cure; and (iv) the use of TDM to improve PK-PD target achievement.
The experts strongly suggest the use of personalized dosing, continuous or prolonged infusion and therapeutic drug monitoring when administering βLA in critically ill patients.
The ancestral origins of the lytic cell death mode, necroptosis, lie in host defense. However, the dysregulation of necroptosis in inflammatory diseases has led to widespread interest in targeting ...the pathway therapeutically. This mode of cell death is executed by the terminal effector, the MLKL pseudokinase, which is licensed to kill following phosphorylation by its upstream regulator, RIPK3 kinase. The precise molecular details underlying MLKL activation are still emerging and, intriguingly, appear to mechanistically-diverge between species. Here, we report the structure of the human RIPK3 kinase domain alone and in complex with the MLKL pseudokinase. These structures reveal how human RIPK3 structurally differs from its mouse counterpart, and how human RIPK3 maintains MLKL in an inactive conformation prior to induction of necroptosis. Residues within the RIPK3:MLKL C-lobe interface are crucial to complex assembly and necroptotic signaling in human cells, thereby rationalizing the strict species specificity governing RIPK3 activation of MLKL.
Significance The four-helix bundle (4HB) domain of Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like (MLKL) bears two clusters of residues that are required for cell death by necroptosis. Mutations within a cluster ...centered on the α4 helix of the 4HB domain of MLKL prevented its membrane translocation, oligomerization, and ability to induce necroptosis. This cluster is composed principally of acidic residues and therefore challenges the idea that the 4HB domain engages negatively charged phospholipid membranes via a conventional positively charged interaction surface. The importance of membrane translocation to MLKL-mediated death is supported by our identification of a small molecule that binds the MLKL pseudokinase domain and retards membrane translocation to inhibit necroptotic signaling.
Necroptosis is considered to be complementary to the classical caspase-dependent programmed cell death pathway, apoptosis. The pseudokinase Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like (MLKL) is an essential effector protein in the necroptotic cell death pathway downstream of the protein kinase Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase-3 (RIPK3). How MLKL causes cell death is unclear, however RIPK3–mediated phosphorylation of the activation loop in MLKL trips a molecular switch to induce necroptotic cell death. Here, we show that the MLKL pseudokinase domain acts as a latch to restrain the N-terminal four-helix bundle (4HB) domain and that unleashing this domain results in formation of a high-molecular-weight, membrane-localized complex and cell death. Using alanine-scanning mutagenesis, we identified two clusters of residues on opposing faces of the 4HB domain that were required for the 4HB domain to kill cells. The integrity of one cluster was essential for membrane localization, whereas MLKL mutations in the other cluster did not prevent membrane translocation but prevented killing; this demonstrates that membrane localization is necessary, but insufficient, to induce cell death. Finally, we identified a small molecule that binds the nucleotide binding site within the MLKL pseudokinase domain and retards MLKL translocation to membranes, thereby preventing necroptosis. This inhibitor provides a novel tool to investigate necroptosis and demonstrates the feasibility of using small molecules to target the nucleotide binding site of pseudokinases to modulate signal transduction.
This updated meta-analysis aims at exploring whether the use of systematic high vs low intraoperative oxygen fraction (FiO
) may decrease the incidence of postoperative surgical site infection during ...general (GA) or regional anesthesia (RA). PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched from January 1st, 1999 and July, 1st 2022, for randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials that included patients in a high and low FiO
groups and reported the incidence of SSI. The meta-analysis was conducted with a DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model. Thirty studies (24 for GA and 6 for RA) totaling 18,055 patients (15,871 for GA and 2184 for RA) were included. We have low-to-moderate-quality evidence that high FiO
(mainly 80%) was not associated with a reduction of SSI incidence compared to low FiO
(mainly 30%) in all patients (RR 0.90, 95%CI 0.79-1.03). Moderate inconsistency existed between studies (I
= 38%). Subgroup analyses showed a moderate protective effect in patients undergoing GA (RR 0.86, 95%CI 0.75-0.99) (low level of evidence), while high FiO
was not associated with a reduction of SSI in patients undergoing RA (RR 1.17, 95%CI 0.90-1.52) (moderate level of evidence). Sensitivity analyses restricted to patients ventilated without nitrous oxide (n = 20 studies), to patients operated from abdominal surgeries (n = 21 studies), and to patients suffering from deep SSI (n = 13 studies), all showed the absence of any significant effect of high FiO
. As a conclusion there is no compelling evidence that high FiO
can improve postoperative patient's outcome on its own when good SSI prevention practices are properly applied. Recent well-designed and adequately powered randomized controlled trials add further weight to these results.
BET bromodomain inhibitors: a patent review Garnier, Jean-Marc; Sharp, Phillip P; Burns, Christopher J
Expert opinion on therapeutic patents,
02/2014, Letnik:
24, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The bromodomain (BRD) and extra-C terminal domain (BET) protein family consists of four members (BRD2, BRD3, BRD4 and BRDT). These "epigenetic readers" bind to acetyllysine (KAc) residues on the ...tails of histones H3 and H4, and regulate chromatin structure and gene expression. There is increasing evidence of their role in human disease, and recently a number of small-molecule inhibitors have been reported. There is increasing interest in the inhibition of BET proteins for a variety of therapeutic applications that have resulted in considerable patent activity from academia and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Data supporting the use of BET inhibitors in treating disease are outlined, and the current patent literature is discussed. The survey is focused on patents claiming compounds as BET inhibitors and additional patents covering compounds now reported as BET inhibitors have been included.
There is now compelling preclinical data demonstrating BET inhibition as a strategy to target processes known to be involved in disease development and progression with clinical trials of two bona fide BET inhibitors now underway. Patent activity in this area is increasing with initial activity focused on variations to reported BET inhibitors and more recent patents disclosing novel chemotypes as BET inhibitors.
Many cancers overexpress one or more of the six human pro-survival BCL2 family proteins to evade apoptosis. To determine which BCL2 protein or proteins block apoptosis in different cancers, we ...computationally designed three-helix bundle protein inhibitors specific for each BCL2 pro-survival protein. Following in vitro optimization, each inhibitor binds its target with high picomolar to low nanomolar affinity and at least 300-fold specificity. Expression of the designed inhibitors in human cancer cell lines revealed unique dependencies on BCL2 proteins for survival which could not be inferred from other BCL2 profiling methods. Our results show that designed inhibitors can be generated for each member of a closely-knit protein family to probe the importance of specific protein-protein interactions in complex biological processes.
A Brønsted acid‐activated trifunctional organocatalyst, based on the BINAP scaffold, was used for the first time to catalyze aza‐Morita‐Baylis–Hillman reactions between N‐tosylimines and methyl vinyl ...ketone with fast reaction rates and good enantioselectivity at room temperature. This trifunctional catalyst, containing a Lewis base, a Brønsted base, and a Brønsted acid, required acid activation to confer its enantioselectivity and rate improvement for both electron‐rich and electron‐deficient imine substrates. The role of the amino Lewis base of 1a was investigated and found to be the activity switch in response to an acid additive. The counterion of the acid additive was found to influence not only the excess ratio but also the sense of asymmetric induction.
Lung squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) is a molecularly complex and genomically unstable disease. No targeted therapy is currently approved for lung SqCC, although potential oncogenic drivers of SqCC ...have been identified, including amplification of the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (
). Reports from a recently completed clinical trial indicate low response rates in patients treated with FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, suggesting inadequacy of
amplification as a biomarker of response, or the need for combination treatment. We aimed to develop accurate models of lung SqCC and determine improved targeted therapies for these tumors. We show that detection of
mRNA by RNA
hybridization is a better predictor of response to FGFR inhibition than
gene amplification using clinically relevant patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of lung SqCC.
-overexpressing tumors were observed in all histologic subtypes of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) as assessed on a tissue microarray, indicating a broader range of tumors that may respond to FGFR inhibitors. In
-overexpressing PDX tumors, we observed increased differentiation and reduced proliferation following FGFR inhibition. Combination therapy with cisplatin was able to increase tumor cell death, and dramatically prolonged animal survival compared to single-agent treatment. Our data suggest that FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors can benefit NSCLC patients with
-overexpressing tumors and provides a rationale for clinical trials combining cisplatin with FGFR inhibitors.
.
Tropheryma whipplei, which causes Whipple disease, is found in human feces and may cause gastroenteritis. To show that T. whipplei causes gastroenteritis, PCRs for T. whipplei were conducted with ...feces from children 2-4 years of age. Western blotting was performed for samples from children with diarrhea who had positive or negative results for T. whipplei. T. whipplei was found in samples from 36 (15%) of 241 children with gastroenteritis and associated with other diarrheal pathogens in 13 (33%) of 36. No positive specimen was detected for controls of the same age (0/47; p = 0.008). Bacterial loads in case-patients were as high as those in patients with Whipple disease and significantly higher than those in adult asymptomatic carriers (p = 0.002). High incidence in patients and evidence of clonal circulation suggests that some cases of gastroenteritis are caused or exacerbated by T. whipplei, which may be co-transmitted with other intestinal pathogens.
Background
SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for high morbidity and mortality worldwide, mostly due to the exacerbated inflammatory response observed in critically ill patients. However, ...little is known about the kinetics of the systemic immune response and its association with survival in SARS-CoV-2+ patients admitted in ICU. We aimed to compare the immuno-inflammatory features according to organ failure severity and in-ICU mortality.
Methods
Six-week multicentre study (
N
= 3) including SARS-CoV-2+ patients admitted in ICU. Analysis of plasma biomarkers at days 0 and 3–4 according to organ failure worsening (increase in SOFA score) and 60-day mortality.
Results
101 patients were included. Patients had severe respiratory diseases with PaO2/FiO2 of 155 111–251 mmHg), SAPS II of 37 31–45 and SOFA score of 4 3–7. Eighty-three patients (83%) required endotracheal intubation/mechanical ventilation and among them, 64% were treated with prone position. IL-1β was barely detectable. Baseline IL-6 levels positively correlated with organ failure severity. Baseline IL-6 and CRP levels were significantly higher in patients in the worsening group than in the non-worsening group (278 70–622 vs. 71 29–153 pg/mL,
P
< 0.01; and 178 100–295 vs. 100 37–213 mg/L,
P
< 0.05, respectively). Baseline IL-6 and CRP levels were significantly higher in non-survivors compared to survivors but fibrinogen levels and lymphocyte counts were not different between groups. After adjustment on SOFA score and time from symptom onset to first dosage, IL-6 and CRP remained significantly associated with mortality. IL-6 changes between Day 0 and Day 3–4 were not different according to the outcome.
A contrario
, kinetics of CRP and lymphocyte count were different between survivors and non-survivors.
Conclusions
In SARS-CoV-2+ patients admitted in ICU, a systemic pro-inflammatory signature was associated with clinical worsening and 60-day mortality.