Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: Combining Oxymatrine or Matrine With Lamivudine Increased Its Antireplication Effect Against the Hepatitis B Virus in Vitro.
Combining Oxymatrine or Matrine with Lamivudine Increased Its Antireplication Effect against the Hepatitis B Virus In Vitro.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013; 2013: 186573
Ma ZJ, Li Q, Wang JB, Zhao YL, Zhong YW, Bai YF, Wang RL, Li JY, Yang HY, Zeng LN, Pu SB, Liu FF, Xiao DK, Xia XH, Xiao XH
Some recent clinical reports have shown that the combination of oxymatrine, a phyto-derived drug, with lamivudine (3TC) could improve its curative effect against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, the experimental data in support of this combination strategy are lacking. In this study, we investigated the anti-HBV activity of the combination of 3TC and either oxymatrine or matrine on HepG2 2.2.15 in vitro. The activities of the combination and the solo compound, each in different concentrations, were compared on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th experimental days. The cytotoxicity results showed that the nontoxic concentrations of both oxymatrine and matrine to HepG2 2.2.15 cells were 800??g/mL. We found that the single use of oxymatrine below 100??g/ml, matrine below 200??g/ml, and 3TC below 30??g/ml showed weak inhibitory effects on the secretion of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), and HBV-DNA in culture media; the combination of 3TC (30??g/ml) with oxymatrine (100??g/ml) or matrine (100??g/ml) showed significant inhibitory effects that were higher than or equivalent to the single use of 3TC at 100??g/ml. The results provide a new impetus to develop novel, multicomponent anti-HBV drugs through the combination of natural products with nucleoside analogs to enhance their activity.
HubMed – drug
Pharmacogenomics in children: advantages and challenges of next generation sequencing applications.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Int J Pediatr. 2013; 2013: 136524
Vanakker OM, De Paepe A
Pharmacogenetics is considered as a prime example of how personalized medicine nowadays can be put into practice. However, genotyping to guide pharmacological treatment is relatively uncommon in the routine clinical practice. Several reasons can be found why the application of pharmacogenetics is less than initially anticipated, which include the contradictory results obtained for certain variants and the lack of guidelines for clinical implementation. However, more reproducible results are being generated, and efforts have been made to establish working groups focussing on evidence-based clinical guidelines. For another pharmacogenetic hurdle, the speed by which a pharmacogenetic profile for a certain drug can be obtained in an individual patient, there has been a revolution in molecular genetics through the introduction of next generation sequencing (NGS), making it possible to sequence a large number of genes up to the complete genome in a single reaction. Besides the enthusiasm due to the tremendous increase of our sequencing capacities, several considerations need to be made regarding quality and interpretation of the sequence data as well as ethical aspects of this technology. This paper will focus on the different NGS applications that may be useful for pharmacogenomics in children and the challenges that they bring on.
HubMed – drug
Transmitted Drug Resistance among People Living with HIV/Aids at Major Cities of Sao Paulo State, Brazil.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Adv Virol. 2013; 2013: 878237
Ferreira JL, Rodrigues R, Lança AM, de Almeida VC, Rocha SQ, Ragazzo TG, Estevam DL, Brigido LF
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmitted drug resistance (TDR) is an important public health issue. In Brazil, low to intermediate resistance levels have been described. We assessed 225 HIV-1 infected, antiretroviral naïve individuals, from HIV Reference Centers at two major metropolitan areas of Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo and Campinas), the state that concentrates most of the Brazilian Aids cases. TDR was analyzed by Stanford Calibrated Population Resistance criteria (CPR), and mutations were observed in 17 individuals (7.6%, 95% CI: 4.5%-11.9%). Seventy-six percent of genomes (13/17) with TDR carried a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) resistance mutation, mostly K103N/S (9/13, 69%), potentially compromising the preferential first-line therapy suggested by the Brazilian HIV Treatment Guideline that recommends efavirenz-based combinations. Moreover, 6/17 (35%) had multiple mutations associated with resistance to one or more classes. HIV-1 B was the prevalent subtype (80%); other subtypes include HIV-1 F and C, mosaics BC, BF, and single cases of subtype A1 and CRF02_AG. The HIV Reference Center of Campinas presented more cases with TDR, with a significant association of TDR with clade B infection (P < 0.05). HubMed – drug
More Drug And Alcohol Rehabilitation Information…