Targeting PI3K in Cancer: Any Good News?

Targeting PI3K in Cancer: Any Good News?

Front Oncol. 2013; 3: 108
Martini M, Ciraolo E, Gulluni F, Hirsch E

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway regulates several cellular processes and it’s one of the most frequently deregulated pathway in human tumors. Given its prominent role in cancer, there is great interest in the development of inhibitors able to target several members of PI3K signaling pathway in clinical trials. These drug candidates include PI3K inhibitors, both pan- and isoform-specific inhibitors, AKT, mTOR, and dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors. As novel compounds progress into clinical trials, it’s becoming urgent to identify and select patient population that most likely benefit from PI3K inhibition. In this review we will discuss individual PIK3CA mutations as predictors of sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies, leading to use of novel PI3K/mTOR/AKT inhibitors to a more “personalized” treatment. HubMed – drug

Antileishmanial Activity of Liposomal Clarithromycin against Leishmania Major Promastigotes.

Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2012 Nov; 15(6): 1210-4
Sazgarnia A, Zabolinejad N, Layegh P, Rajabi O, Berenji F, Javidi Z, Salari R

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a common parasitic disease which is endemic in some parts of the world. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown azithromycin efficacy on some Leishmania species. Because of structural similarity between clarithromycin and azithromycin and efficacy of clarithromycin against intracellular organisms and due to the absence of previous studies in this respect, we decided to evaluate the efficacy of clarithromycin against promastigotes of L. major in vitro.First, liposomal and non- liposomal clarithromycin were prepared, then both forms of the drug were incubated with promastigotes for 24 hr in NNN culture media without red phenol in the presence of 5% FCS with different concentrations as follows: 20, 40, 80, 100, 200 and 500 µg/ml.According to the results, clarithromycin in both liposomal and non- liposomal forms has in vitro activity against the promastigotes of L. major. The concentration of drug that killed 50% of parasites (ED 50) was 169 and 253.6 µg/ml for liposomal and non- liposomal forms, respectively which shows that lower concentrations of liposomal drug are required to have the same effect as non- liposomal drug and the liposomal form of the drug is more effective than non- liposomal form.Clarithromycin in both liposomal and non- liposomal forms has in vitro activity against the promastigotes of L. major. HubMed – drug

Efficacy of Anti-Leishmania Therapy in Visceral Leishmaniasis among HIV Infected Patients: A Systematic Review with Indirect Comparison.

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013 May; 7(5): e2195
Cota GF, de Sousa MR, Fereguetti TO, Rabello A

We conducted a systematic literature review with indirect comparison of studies evaluating therapeutic efficacy and toxicity associated to visceral leishmaniasis (VL) therapy among HIV infected individuals.The outcomes of interest were clinical and parasitological cure, mortality, and adverse events.PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and Cochrane manual were followed. Sources were MEDLINE, LILACS, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge databases and manual search of references from evaluated studies. We included all studies reporting outcomes after VL treatment, regardless of their design. Study quality was evaluated systematically by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for assessing the quality of nonrandomized studies in meta-analyses. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software v.2.2.048 was used to perform one-group meta-analysis of study arms with the same drug to estimate global rates of success and adverse events with each drug. These estimates were used, when possible, to indirectly compare treatment options, adjusted for CD4 count. Direct comparison was pooled when available.Seventeen studies reporting five treatment regimens and outcome of 920 VL episodes occurring in HIV infected individuals were included. The main outstanding difference in outcome among the treatment regimens was observed in mortality rate: it was around 3 times higher with high-dose antimony use (18.4%, CI 95% 13.3-25%), indirectly compared to lipid formulations of amphotericin B treatment (6.1%, CI 95% 3.9-9.4%). It was observed, also by indirect comparison, higher rates of clinical improvement in study arms using amphotericin B than in study arms using pentavalent antimonial therapy (Sb(v)). The parasitological cure, an outcome that presented some degree of risk of selection and verification bias, had rates that varied widely within the same treatment arm, with high heterogeneity, hampering any formal comparison among drugs. One direct comparison of amphotericin and antimoniate was possible combining results of two studies and confirming the superiority of amphotericin.Available evidence suggests that amphotericin is superior to antimony treatment. Death rate using antimoniate high dose is unacceptably high. Randomized controlled trials are necessary to compare different formulations and doses of amphotericin, alternative therapies and drug combinations. HubMed – drug