Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Bio Instrumentation in Experimental Life Sciences Research’ Category

Combining Nanotube Technology and Genetically Engineered Antibodies to Detect Prostate Cancer Biomarkers

Writer, Curator: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.

Article ID #61: Combining Nanotube Technology and Genetically Engineered Antibodies to Detect Prostate Cancer Biomarkers. Published on 6/13/2013

WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman

acs nanoFigure of  Carbon Nanotube Transistor design with functionalized antibodies for biomarker detection.  From paper of A.T. Johnson; used with permission from A.T. Johnson)

In a literature review of the current status of the breast cancer biomarker field[2], author Dr. Michael Duffy, from University College Dublin, pondered the clinical utility of breast cancer serum markers and suggested that due to lack of sensitivity and specificity none of available markers is of value for detection of early breast cancer however these biomarkers have been shown useful in monitoring patients with advanced disease. For instance high preoperative CA15-3 is indicative of adverse patient outcome.  According to American Society of Clinical Oncology Expert Panel, however CA 15-3 may lack the sensitivity and disease specificity for breast cancer as a prognostic marker.  For panel suggestions please click on the link below:

http://www.asco.org/sites/www.asco.org/files/breast_tm_2007_changes-final.pdf

The same panel also concurred on the lack of prognostic value of other markers (for example CEA for colon cancer) but did agree that 66-73% of patients with advanced disease, who responded to therapy, showed reduction in these serum markers.  Indeed, CA125, long associated as a biomarker for ovarian cancer, does not have the sensitivity and especially the disease specificity to be a stand-alone prognostic marker[3].  Therefore, although “omics” strategies have suggested multiple possible biomarkers  for various cancers, a major issue in translating a putative biomarker to either:

1)      a clinically validated (panel) of disease-relevant biomarkers or

2)      biomarkers useful for therapeutic monitoring

is obtaining the specificity and sensitivity for detection in bio-specimens.   As discussed below, this is being achieved with the merger of nanotechnology-based sensors and bioengineering of biomolecule.

For ASCO panel suggestions of biomarkers useful in Prostate cancer please see the link below:

http://jco.ascopubs.org/site/misc/specialarticles.xhtml#GENITOURINARY_CANCER

As a side note, since 2010, ASCO has focused on reviewing and producing new guidelines for cancer biomarkers including genome sequencing:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/723349

Osteopontin (OPN) and prostate cancer

Osteopontin is a phosphorylated glycoprotein secreted by activated macrophages, leukocytes, activated T lymphocytes and is present at sites of inflammation (for a review of OPN see [4]).  Osteopontin interacts with several integrins and CD44 (a putative cancer stem cell marker).  Binding of OPN to cell integrins mediates cell-matrix and cell-cell communication, stimulating adhesion, migration (through interaction with urokinase plasminogen activator {uPA}) and cell signaling pathways such as the HGF-Met pathway.  Overexpression is found on a variety of cancers including breast, lung, colorectal, ovarian and melanoma[5].  And although OPN is detected in normal tissue, it is known that OPN over-expression can alter the malignant potential of tumor cells.

Roles of osteopontin in cancer include:

  • Binding to CD44
  • Increase in growth factor signaling (HGF/Met pathway)
  • Increase uPA activity- increase invasiveness
  • Angiogenesis thru binding with αvβ3 integrin and increased VEGF expression
  • Protection against apoptosis: OPN activates nuclear factor Κβ

Some researchers have suggested it could be a prognostic marker for breast and lung cancer while there have been conflicting reports as to whether OPN expression is correlated to malignant potential in prostate cancer[6].  Osteopontin is found on tumor infiltrating macrophages, which may contribute to OPN as a prognostic marker. Breast cancer patients (disseminated carcinomas) have 4-10 times higher serum levels of OPN than found in healthy patients, although there is no difference in pre- or post-menopausal women[7].

Piezoelectric sensors have been used by the same group at Fox Chase Cancer Center to detect serum levels of the HER2 protein in breast cancer patients, for the purpose of therapeutic monitoring after anti-HER2 antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin™) therapy.  Lina Loo, in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Adams showed the utility of using (scFv) to trastuzumab (anti-HER2) with pizo-electric nanotubes to accurately and reproducibly determine levels of serum HER2[8].  This method improved the sensitivity of serum HER2 detection over other methods such as:

  • ELISA {enzyme-linked immunoassay}
  • Luminex platforms

Please watch the following video interview concerning genetically engineered scFV antibody fragments and their use in cancer detection and treatment (with Dr. Matt Robinson and Dr. Greg Adams, from Fox Chase Cancer Center)

PLEASE WATCH VIDEO

However the advent of nanotechnology-based detection system combined with engineered affinity-based biomolecules has increased both the sensitivity and specificity of biomarker detection from complex fluids such as plasma and urine.  The advent of multiple types of biosensors, including

has given the ability to measure, with enhanced sensitivity and specificity,  putative biomarkers of disease in minute volumes of precious bio-samples.

The basic design of a biosensor is made of three components:

  1. A recognition element (I.e. antibodies, nucleic acids, enzymes)
  2. A signal transducer (electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric)
  3. Signal processor (relays and displays)

In the journal ACS Nano Mitchel Lerner from Dr. Charlie Johnson’s laboratory at University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer researchers in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Robinson, describe a piezoelectric detection system for quantifying levels of osteopontin (OPN), a putative biomarker for prostate cancer[1].  In this paper Dr. Robinson’s group at Fox Chase, genetically engineered a single chain variable fragment (scFv) protein {the binding portion of the antibody} which had high affinity for OPN.  This scFv was attached to a carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (NT-FET), designed by Dr. Johnson’s group, using a chemical process called chemical functionalization {a process using diazonium salts to covalently attach scFV to NT-FET.

functionalization

Figure. Functionalization scheme for OPN attachment to carbon nanotubes. As figure 1 legend in paper states: “First, sp8 hybridized-sites are created o the nanotube sidewall by incubation in a diazonium salt solution.  The carboxylic acid group is then activated by EDC and stabilized with NHS.ScFv antibody displaces the NHS and forms an amide bond.  OPN epitope is shown in yellow and the C and N-terminuses are in orange and green respectively.” (used by permision for A.T. Charlie Johnson)

This system was then used to determine the selectivity and sensitivity of OPN from complex solutions.

Methods: 

Nanotube (NT) design

  • Grown by catalytic vapor deposition
  • Electrical contacts patterned using photo-lithography
  • Atomic Force microscopy was used to verify structure of nanotube

Chemical Linking of scFv to nanotube

  • Diazonium treatment resulted in activation and subsequent stabilization of amino (NHS) side chain
  • Amine group on lysine of scFV displaced NHS group => covalent attachment of scFV to NT
  • Atomic Force Spectroscopy used to verify linkage of scFv to nanotube

Results showed there was

  • minimal non-specific binding of OPN to the scFv
  • system allowed for detection limit of 1 pg/ml OPN (pictogram/milliliter) or 30 fM (fentomolar) in a phosphate buffered saline solution.
  •  Only a minute volume (10 µl) of sample is needed
  • Sensor able to measure million-fold  range of OPN concentrations ( from 10-3 to 103 ng/mL OPN)

Two experiments were conducted to determine the specificity of OPN to the antibody-detection system.

1st experiment

–          scFv functionalized  sensor was incubated in a solution of high concentration of BSA (450 mg/ml) to approximate nonspecific proteins in patient samples

–           minimal signal was detected

        2nd experiment

–          Functionalized NT-FET devices with a scFv based on the HER2 therapeutic antibody trastuzumab

–          There was no binding of OPN to anti-HER2 devices

–          Therefore anti OPN (23C3) scFv-functionalized carbon nanotube sensors exhibit high levels of specificity to OPN

The authors conclude “the functionalization procedure described here is expected to be generalizable to any antibody containing an accessible amine group, and to result in biosensors appropriate for detection of corresponding complementary proteins at fM concentrations”.

I had the opportunity to speak with co-author Dr. Matthew Robinson, Assistant Professor in the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center about the next steps for this work.  Dr. Robinson mentioned that “at this point we have not looked in patient samples yet but our plan is to move in that direction. We need to establish sensitivity/specificity in increasingly complex samples (e.g. spiked normal serum and retrospectively in patient serum with known levels of biomarkers).” 

Cancer patients often present a complex metabolic profile.  The paper notes that OPN has a pI (isoelectric point) of 4.2, which would result in a negative charge at physiologically normal pH of 7.6. I asked Dr. Robinson about if changes in metabolic profile could hinder OPN binding to the NT-FET system would require some preprocessing of blood samples.  Dr. Robinson  agreed “that confounding variables such as additional diseases but even things like diet (i.e. is fasting necessary) need to be addressed before this platform is ready for use in clinical setting.
It is likely that sample prep will be needed to remove albumin, lower salt concentrations, etc. This could end up being problematic for biomarkers that are unstable and would degrade over the time necessary for sample prep. It is also possible that sample prep to remove albumin and other background factors could result in loss of biomarkers. This will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis with validated testing methods.”
One useful advantage of this system is the possibility of measuring multiple biomarkers, clinically important as studies has suggested that

multiple markers result in the higher sensitivity/specificity for many infrequent cancers, such as ovarian. Dr. Robinson agrees “that panels of biomarkers are likely to be better at early detection and diagnosis. In principle the platform that we describe can be set up to allow for detection of  multiple biomarkers at a time. From the biology end of things we have built antibodies against 3 different prostate cancer biomarkers for that purpose.”

Dr. Johnson  commented on the ability of the platform allowed for the simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers, noting that ”the platform is compatible with the measurement of multiple biomarkers through the use of multiple devices, each functionalized with their own antibody.”

ASCO guidelines Expert Panel on Tumor Biomarkers 2007 Update for Breast Cancer:

http://www.asco.org/sites/www.asco.org/files/breast_tm_2007_changes-final.pdf 

ASCO Guidelines for Genitourinary Cancer:

Screening for Prostate Cancer With Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing: American Society of Clinical Oncology Provisional Clinical Opinion

Published in JCO, Vol. 30, Issue 24 (August 20), 2012: 3020-3025

American Society of Clinical Oncology Clinical Practice Guideline on Uses of Serum Tumor Markers in Adult Males With Germ Cell Tumors

Published in JCO, Vol 28, Issue 20 (July 10), 2010: 3388-3404

American Society of Clinical Oncology Endorsement of the Cancer Care Ontario Practice Guideline on Nonhormonal Therapy for Men With Metastatic Hormone-Refractory (castration-resistant) Prostate Cancer

Published in JCO, Vol 25, Issue 33 (November 20), 2007: 5313-5318

Initial Hormonal Management of Androgen-Sensitive Metastatic, Recurrent, or Progressive Prostate Cancer: 2006 Update of an American Society of Clinical Oncology Practice Guideline

Published in JCO, Vol. 25, Issue 12 (April 20), 2007: 1596-1605

References:

1.            Lerner MB, D’Souza J, Pazina T, Dailey J, Goldsmith BR, Robinson MK, Johnson AT: Hybrids of a genetically engineered antibody and a carbon nanotube transistor for detection of prostate cancer biomarkers. ACS nano 2012, 6(6):5143-5149.

2.            Duffy MJ: Serum tumor markers in breast cancer: are they of clinical value? Clinical chemistry 2006, 52(3):345-351.

3.            Meyer T, Rustin GJ: Role of tumour markers in monitoring epithelial ovarian cancer. British journal of cancer 2000, 82(9):1535-1538.

4.            Rodrigues LR, Teixeira JA, Schmitt FL, Paulsson M, Lindmark-Mansson H: The role of osteopontin in tumor progression and metastasis in breast cancer. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 2007, 16(6):1087-1097.

5.            Brown LF, Berse B, Van de Water L, Papadopoulos-Sergiou A, Perruzzi CA, Manseau EJ, Dvorak HF, Senger DR: Expression and distribution of osteopontin in human tissues: widespread association with luminal epithelial surfaces. Molecular biology of the cell 1992, 3(10):1169-1180.

6.            Thoms JW, Dal Pra A, Anborgh PH, Christensen E, Fleshner N, Menard C, Chadwick K, Milosevic M, Catton C, Pintilie M et al: Plasma osteopontin as a biomarker of prostate cancer aggression: relationship to risk category and treatment response. British journal of cancer 2012, 107(5):840-846.

7.            Brown LF, Papadopoulos-Sergiou A, Berse B, Manseau EJ, Tognazzi K, Perruzzi CA, Dvorak HF, Senger DR: Osteopontin expression and distribution in human carcinomas. The American journal of pathology 1994, 145(3):610-623.

8.            Loo L, Capobianco JA, Wu W, Gao X, Shih WY, Shih WH, Pourrezaei K, Robinson MK, Adams GP: Highly sensitive detection of HER2 extracellular domain in the serum of breast cancer patients by piezoelectric microcantilevers. Analytical chemistry 2011, 83(9):3392-3397.

Other posts from this site on Biomarkers, Cancer, and Nanotechnology include:

Stanniocalcin: A Cancer Biomarker.

Mesothelin: An early detection biomarker for cancer (By Jack Andraka)

Squeezing Ovarian Cancer Cells to Predict Metastatic Potential: Cell Stiffness as Possible Biomarker

PIK3CA mutation in Colorectal Cancer may serve as a Predictive Molecular Biomarker for adjuvant Aspirin therapy

Biomarker tool development for Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer: Van Andel Institute and Emory University

Early Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer Identified

In Search of Clarity on Prostate Cancer Screening, Post-Surgical Followup, and Prediction of Long Term Remission

Prostate Cancer Molecular Diagnostic Market – the Players are: SRI Int’l, Genomic Health w/Cleveland Clinic, Myriad Genetics w/UCSF, GenomeDx and BioTheranostics

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: American Urological Association (AUA) Guideline

A Blood Test to Identify Aggressive Prostate Cancer: a Discovery @ SRI International, Menlo Park, CA

Prostate Cancer Cells: Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Induce Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition

Prostate Cancer and Nanotecnology

 

Read Full Post »

World of Metabolites:  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developed Imaging Technique for their Capturing

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

UPDATED on 9/27/2017

From: “Dr. Larry Bernstein” <larry.bernstein@gmail.com>

Reply-To: “Dr. Larry Bernstein” <larry.bernstein@gmail.com>

Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at 10:45 AM

To: Aviva Lev-Ari <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>

Precision or personalized medicine seeks to provide the right drug to the right patient at the right time. Hence the significance of the principal omics: disciplines of genomics, proteomics, and last but not least metabolomics, as diagnostic enablers. 

Primacy among the ‘omics is debatable, but the notion that metabolomics reflects the most accurate picture of disease states has reached significant momentum. “Almost every factor affecting health exerts its influence by altering metabolite levels,” says Mike Milburn, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Metabolon (Morrisville, North Carolina, USA). 

Where clinical chemistry blood tests typically quantify individual species for example, glucose or cholesterol, metabolomics measures hundreds or even thousands of metabolites to provide a nuanced view of disease states. 

Metabolon employs standard liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for metabolomic studies. Its proprietary informatics and processing platform, Precision MetabolomicsTM, overcomes the “big data” challenge, a natural consequence of measuring hundreds or thousands of small-molecule entities with widely differing concentrations in a single sample. Precision Metabolomics enables “n of 1” studies — meaningful clinical trials on a single patient, Milburn adds:

Diagnostic metabolomics resembles other medical testing, where results are compared against readings from healthy individuals or a reference population. Many metabolites serve that purpose but none on its own is sufficiently specific or diagnostic for a diagnosis — otherwise it would comprise a standalone test. Hence the reliance on metabolite panels or networks, which together may provide a clearer view of disease states than any single diagnostic molecule.

 

Imaging technique captures ever-changing world of metabolites

Thu, 06/13/2013 – 7:38am

The kinetic world of metabolites comes to life in this merged overlay of mass spectrometry images. It shows new versus pre-existing metabolites in a tumor section (yellow and red indicate newer metabolites). Image: Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryThe kinetic world of metabolites comes to life in this merged overlay of mass spectrometry images. It shows new versus pre-existing metabolites in a tumor section (yellow and red indicate newer metabolites). Image: Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryWhat would you do with a camera that can take a picture of something and tell you how new it is? If you’re Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists Katherine Louie, Ben Bowen, Jian-Hua Mao and Trent Northen, you use it to gain a better understanding of the ever-changing world of metabolites, the molecules that drive life-sustaining chemical transformations within cells.

They’re part of a team of researchers that developed a mass spectrometry imaging technique that not only maps the whereabouts of individual metabolites in a biological sample, but how new the metabolites are too.

That’s a big milestone, because metabolites are constantly in flux. They’re synthesized on-demand in order to sustain an organism’s energy requirements. When you eat lunch, metabolites momentarily fire up in various cell populations throughout your body to fuel your day. But they also have a dark side. Cancer cells tap metabolites to drive tumor development.

Unfortunately, the current ways to clinically analyze metabolites don’t capture their kinetics. Microscopy maps the cells and biomarkers in a tumor section. And traditional mass spectrometry reveals the abundance and spatial distribution of molecules such as metabolites.

But these images are static snapshots of a highly dynamic process. They’re blind to how recently the metabolites were synthesized, which is a key piece of information. The metabolic status of a cell population is a good indicator of what the cells were up to when the sample was taken.

To image the ebb and flow of metabolites, the scientists paired mass spectrometry with a clinically accepted way to label tissue that uses a hydrogen isotope called deuterium.

As reported in Nature Scientific Reports, they administered deuterium to mice with tumors. Newly synthesized lipids (a hallmark of metabolic activity) became labeled with deuterium, while pre-existing lipids remained unlabeled. The scientists then removed tumor sections and analyzed them with a type of mass spectrometry.

The resulting images look like freeze-frames of a slow-motion fireworks show. They reveal when and where metabolic turnover occurs in a tumor section, with the brighter colors depicting newly synthesized lipids.

The scientists also found that regions with new lipids had a higher tumor grade, which is a good predictor of how quickly a tumor is likely to grow.

“Our approach, called kinetic mass spectrometry imaging, could provide clinicians with quantifiable information they can use,” says Bowen.

The scientists are now applying their imaging technique to study metabolic flux in other biological systems, such as microbial communities.

Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/06/imaging-technique-captures-ever-changing-world-metabolites?et_cid=3310531&et_rid=461755519&location=top

 

Read Full Post »

“Artificial Blood” : Part I

Author: Tilda Barliya PhD

 

UPDATED on 10/14/2020

Recent article about a lab-made blood substitute that could one day make blood shortages a thing of the past.  https://www.freethink.com/articles/artificial-blood.

 

“Artificial blood” has been the main focus of research in the past few years (1) and refers to a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological function.

A number of driving forces have led to the development of artificial blood substitutes (1):

  1.  The military, which requires a large volume of blood products that can be easily stored and readily shipped to the site of casualties.
  2.  HIV; with the advent of this virus, the medical community and the public suddenly became aware of the significance of transfusion-transmitted diseases and became concerned about the safety of the national blood supply.
  3. The growing shortage of blood donors. Approximately 60% of the population is eligible to donate blood, but fewer than 5% are regular blood donors.
  4. Short shelf-life of the blood products.
  5. High hospital needs: cancer patients, transplantation etc

Artificial blood products offer many important benefits:

  • Readily available
  • Have a long shelf life
  • Can undergo filtration and pasteurization processes
  • Do not require blood typing (i.e A,B AB, O)
  • Do not appear to cause immunosuppression in the recipient.

Researchers have focused their efforts on creating artificial substitutes for 2 important functions of blood: A) oxygen transport by red blood cells and B) hemostasis by platelets (1).

A) Red Cell Substitutes:

  • Hemoglobin based
  • Perfluorocarbon (PFC) based

A1) Hemoglobin-based

The hemoglobin-based substitutes use hemoglobin from several different sources (1):

  • Human – Human hemoglobin is obtained from donated blood that has reached its expiration date and from the small amount of red cells collected as a by-product during plasma donation.
  • Animal – Animal hemoglobin is obtained from cows. This source creates some apprehension regarding the possible transmission of animal pathogens, specifically bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
  • Recombinant – Recombinant hemoglobin is obtained by inserting the gene for human hemoglobin into bacteria and then isolating the hemoglobin from the culture.

Understanding hemoglobin, its transition from a monomer to a tetramer and the way it needs to be linked to the surface of the artificial blood cells is of major issue and will be discussed in more depth in part II.

A2) Perfluorocarbon (PFC) based

PFCs are synthetic hydrocarbons with halide substitutions and are about 1/100th the size of a red blood cell. These solutions have the capacity to dissolve up to 50 times more oxygen than plasma. Because PFC solutions are modified hydrocarbons, however, they do not mix well with blood and must be emulsified with lipids or oils. The PFCs are inert products. After infusion, the molecules vaporize and are then exhaled over several days (1).

B) Platelet Substitutes:

Platelets are also at very high need due to their extremely short shelf-life (5 days) and very limited supply. Several methods have been utilized to create platelet substitutes including:

  • Infusible platelet membranes
  • Thrombospheres
  • Lyophilized human platelet product

Use and need for HLA antigen or platelet antigens, fibrinogen proteins and aggregation factors will be further discussed in part II.

In Summary:

The growing need for blood supply due to short shelf-life, limited supply and increase in disease/injured population have urged researchers to look for blood substitutes.   Although the many years of research and profound progress that have been made, there’s plenty of disadvantages having complications and  limited clinical benefits. The topic of blood substitutes will be further discussed in part II, highlighting the different substitutes that were developed, those which entered clinical trails, and the potential use of nanotechnology in this field of research.

Reference:

1. Lesley Kresie. Artificial blood: an update on current red cell and platelet substitutes. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2001 April; 14(2): 158–161 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291332/

2. By: Tony Rairden. Synthetic Red Blood Cells Developed. http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=35993

3. By: Abdu I. Alayash. BLOOD SUBSTITUTES: Working to Fulfill a Dream. FDA voice. http://blogs.fda.gov/fdavoice/index.php/2012/06/blood-substitutes-working-to-fulfill-a-dream/

4. Jiin-Yu Chen, Michelle Scerbo, and George Kramer. A Review of Blood Substitutes: Examining The History, Clinical Trial Results, and Ethics of Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers. Clinics (San Paulo) 2009 August; 64(8): 803-813. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728196/

Read Full Post »

Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

We covered the Elevated Blood Pressure and High Adult Arterial Stiffness in the following articles on this Open Access Online Scientific Journal:

Pearlman, JD and A. Lev-Ari 5/24/2013 Imaging Biomarker for Arterial Stiffness: Pathways in Pharmacotherapy for Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia Management

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/24/imaging-biomarker-for-arterial-stiffness-pathways-in-pharmacotherapy-for-hypertension-and-hypercholesterolemia-management/

Lev-Ari, A. 5/17/2013 Synthetic Biology: On Advanced Genome Interpretation for Gene Variants and Pathways: What is the Genetic Base of Atherosclerosis and Loss of Arterial Elasticity with Aging

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/17/synthetic-biology-on-advanced-genome-interpretation-for-gene-variants-and-pathways-what-is-the-genetic-base-of-atherosclerosis-and-loss-of-arterial-elasticity-with-aging/

Bernstein, HL and A. Lev-Ari 5/15/2013 Diagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease, Treatment and Prevention: Current & Predicted Cost of Care and the Promise of Individualized Medicine Using Clinical Decision Support Systems

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/15/diagnosis-of-cardiovascular-disease-treatment-and-prevention-current-predicted-cost-of-care-and-the-promise-of-individualized-medicine-using-clinical-decision-support-systems-2/

Pearlman, JD and A. Lev-Ari 5/11/2013 Hypertension and Vascular Compliance: 2013 Thought Frontier – An Arterial Elasticity Focus

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/11/arterial-elasticity-in-quest-for-a-drug-stabilizer-isolated-systolic-hypertension-caused-by-arterial-stiffening-ineffectively-treated-by-vasodilatation-antihypertensives/

Pearlman, JD and A. Lev-Ari 5/7/2013 On Devices and On Algorithms: Arrhythmia after Cardiac Surgery Prediction and ECG Prediction of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Onset

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/07/on-devices-and-on-algorithms-arrhythmia-after-cardiac-surgery-prediction-and-ecg-prediction-of-paroxysmal-atrial-fibrillation-onset/

Pearlman, JD and A. Lev-Ari 5/4/2013 Cardiovascular Diseases: Decision Support Systems for Disease Management Decision Making

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/04/cardiovascular-diseases-decision-support-systems-for-disease-management-decision-making/

Lev-Ari, A. 5/29/2012 Triple Antihypertensive Combination Therapy Significantly Lowers Blood Pressure in Hard-to-Treat Patients with Hypertension and Diabetes

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/05/29/445/

Lev-Ari, A. 12/31/2012 Renal Sympathetic Denervation: Updates on the State of Medicine

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/31/renal-sympathetic-denervation-updates-on-the-state-of-medicine/

Manuela Stoicescu, MD, PhD, 2/9/2013 An Important Marker of Hypertension in Young Adults

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/09/an-important-marker-of-hypertension-in-young-adults/

Manuela Stoicescu, MD, PhD, 2/9/2013 Arterial Hypertension in Young Adults: An Ignored Chronic Problem

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/09/arterial-hypertension-in-young-adults-an-ignored-chronic-problem/

We present below, a new study on whether elevated pediatric BP could predict high PWV in adulthood and if there is a difference in the predictive ability between the standard BP definition endorsed by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program and the recently proposed 2 simplified definitions.

Simplified Definitions of ElevatedPediatric Blood Pressure and High Adult Arterial Stiffness

  1. Heikki Aatola, MDa,
  2. Costan G. Magnussen, PhDb,c,
  3. Teemu Koivistoinen, MD, MSca,
  4. Nina Hutri-Kähönen, MD, PhDd,
  5. Markus Juonala, MD, PhDb,e,
  6. Jorma S.A. Viikari, MD, PhDe,
  7. Terho Lehtimäki, MD, PhDf,
  8. Olli T. Raitakari, MD, PhDb,g, and
  9. Mika Kähönen, MD, PhDa

+Author Affiliations


  1. aDepartments of Clinical Physiology,

  2. dPediatrics, and

  3. fClinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland;

  4. eDepartments of Medicine, and

  5. gClinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, and

  6. bthe Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; and

  7. cMenzies Research Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The ability of childhood elevated blood pressure (BP) to predict high pulse wave velocity (PWV), a surrogate marker for cardiovascular disease, in adulthood has not been reported. We studied whether elevated pediatric BP could predict high PWV in adulthood and if there is a difference in the predictive ability between the standard BP definition endorsed by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program and the recently proposed 2 simplified definitions.

METHODS: The sample comprised 1241 subjects from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study followed-up 27 years since baseline (1980, aged 6–15 years). Arterial PWV was measured in 2007 by whole-body impedance cardiography.

RESULTS: The relative risk for high PWV was 1.5 using the simple 1 (age-specific) definition, 1.6 using the simple 2 (age- and gender-specific) definition, and 1.7 using the complex (age-, gender-, and height-specific) definition (95% confidence interval: 1.1–2.0, P = .007; 1.2–2.2, P = .001; and 1.2–2.2, P = .001, respectively). Predictions of high PWV were equivalent for the simple 1 or simple 2 versus complex definition (P = .25 and P = .68 for area under the curve comparisons, P = .13 and P = .35 for net reclassification indexes, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the previous finding that elevated BP tracks from childhood to adulthood and accelerates the atherosclerotic process. The simplified BP tables could be used to identify pediatric patients at increased risk of high arterial stiffness in adulthood and hence to improve the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Key Words:

  • blood pressure
  • pediatrics
  • prehypertension
  • screening
  • stiffness
  • Abbreviations:
    AUC —
    area under receiver-operating characteristic curve
    BP —
    blood pressure
    CVD —
    cardiovascular diseases
    NHBPEP —
    National High Blood Pressure Education Program
    NPV —
    negative predictive value
    NRI —
    net reclassification improvement
    PPV —
    positive predictive value
    PWV —
    pulse wave velocity
  • Accepted March 12, 2013.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/06/05/peds.2012-3426.abstract?sid=1755f2a0-4e03-4bc8-a563-23458d9dc988

Kids’ High BP Tied to Arterial Stiffness as Adults

By Todd Neale, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: June 10, 2013

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

High blood pressure in childhood defined in three different ways was associated with high pulse wave velocity — a surrogate marker for cardiovascular disease — 27 years later, researchers found.

The relationship remained significant whether high blood pressure was identified using a complex definition that incorporated age, sex, and height or one of two simplified definitions (relative risk 1.5 to 1.7), according to Mika Kähönen, MD, PhD, of Tampere University Hospital in Finland, and colleagues.

The predictive ability of the two simplified definitions was comparable to that of the more complex definition, the researchers reported online in Pediatrics.

In guidelines published in 2004, the National High Blood Pressure Education Program recommended screening blood pressure at all pediatric visits starting at age 3. The document provides definitions for normal, prehypertensive, and hypertensive blood pressure levels according to age, sex, and height. But including all three of those factors results in hundreds of blood pressure thresholds for patients up to age 17.

Recently, two simplified definitions have been proposed — one that relies only on age and sex and reduces the number of blood pressure thresholds to 64 and another that relies on age alone and reduces the number of thresholds to 10.

“Our results support the previous finding that elevated blood pressure tracks from childhood to adulthood and accelerates the atherosclerotic process,” they wrote. “The simplified blood pressure tables could be used to identify pediatric patients at increased risk of high arterial stiffness in adulthood and hence to improve the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.”

“This complex definition could at least partly explain the poor diagnosis of prehypertension and hypertension in children and adolescents reported previously,” Kähönen and colleagues wrote.

The researchers explored the relationship between high blood pressure in childhood and high pulse wave velocity, which is a measure of arterial stiffness, in adulthood, as well as whether the definition of high blood pressure mattered, using 1,241 participants from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

The participants were 6- to 15-years-old (mean age 10.7) at baseline in 1980. The researchers followed them for 27 years, at which point arterial pulse wave velocity was measured using whole-body impedance cardiography.

At baseline, the percentage of participants who had high blood pressure was 53.9% according to the definition based on age, 57.8% according to the definition based on age and sex, and 43.2% according to the more complex definition recommended in the guidelines.

At the 27-year follow-up assessment, 20% of the participants had a high pulse wave velocity. Compared with those with a low pulse wave velocity, these individuals had significantly higher blood pressure values and higher rates of elevated blood pressure at baseline. The differences widened at the adult follow-up.

Elevated pediatric blood pressure was associated with a greater risk of having a high pulse wave velocity for all three definitions used in the study:

  • Age-based: RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.0
  • Age- and sex-based: RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.2
  • Age-, sex-, and height-based: RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.2

The predictive ability of the definitions were not different from one another, as illustrated by a lack of significant differences when comparing area under the receiving-operating characteristic curves and net reclassification indexes (P>0.1 for all comparisons).

“This finding is clinically meaningful because both these simplified tables could be more easily implemented as a screening tool in pediatric healthcare settings and outside of a physician’s office when the height percentile required for the complex definition may not be obtainable,” the authors wrote.

They acknowledged that their study was potentially limited in that the method for measuring pulse wave velocity is not commonly used in epidemiologic settings. In addition, there could have been bias stemming from participants dropping out during follow-up and generalizability of the findings may be limited to white European individuals.

The study was supported by the Academy of Finland, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the Turku University Foundation, the Medical Research Fund of Kuopio University Hospital, the Medical Research Fund of Tampere University Hospital, the Turku University Hospital Medical Fund, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Juha Vainio Foundation, the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and The Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation.

The authors reported no conflicts of interest.

From the American Heart Association:

REFERENCES

1. Berenson GS, Srinivasan SR, Bao W, Newman

WP III, Tracy RE, Wattigney WA. Association

between multiple cardiovascular risk factors

and atherosclerosis in children and

young adults. The Bogalusa Heart Study. N

Engl J Med. 1998;338(23):1650–1656

 

2. McGill HC Jr, McMahan CA, Zieske AW,

Malcom GT, Tracy RE, Strong JP. Effects of

nonlipid risk factors on atherosclerosis in

youth with a favorable lipoprotein profile.

Circulation. 2001;103(11):1546–1550

 

3. Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Kähönen M, et al.

Cardiovascular risk factors in childhood and

carotid artery intima-media thickness in

adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young

Finns Study. JAMA. 2003;290(17):2277–2283

 

4. Hartiala O, Magnussen CG, Kajander S,

et al. Adolescence risk factors are predictive

of coronary artery calcification at

middle age: the cardiovascular risk in

young Finns study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012;

60(15):1364–1370

 

5. Wang Y, Beydoun MA. The obesity epidemic

in the United States—gender, age, socioeconomic,

racial/ethnic, and geographic

characteristics: a systematic review and

meta-regression analysis. Epidemiol Rev.

2007;29(1):6–28

 

6. McCrindle BW. Assessment and management

of hypertension in children and adolescents.

Nat Rev Cardiol. 2010;7(3):155–163

 

7. Bao W, Threefoot SA, Srinivasan SR,

Berenson GS. Essential hypertension

predicted by tracking of elevated blood

pressure from childhood to adulthood: the

Bogalusa Heart Study. Am J Hypertens.

1995;8(7):657–665

 

8. Chen X, Wang Y. Tracking of blood pressure

from childhood to adulthood: a systematic

review and meta-regression analysis. Circulation.

2008;117(25):3171–3180

 

9. Juhola J, Magnussen CG, Viikari JS, et al.

Tracking of serum lipid levels, blood pressure,

and body mass index from childhood

to adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in

Young Finns Study. J Pediatr. 2011;159(4):

584–590

 

10. National High Blood Pressure Education

Program Working Group on High Blood

Pressure in Children and Adolescents. The

fourth report on the diagnosis, evaluation,

and treatment of high blood pressure in

children and adolescents. Pediatrics. 2004;

114(suppl. 2, 4th report):555–576

 

11. Hansen ML, Gunn PW, Kaelber DC. Underdiagnosis

of hypertension in children and

adolescents. JAMA. 2007;298(8):874–879

 

12. Mitchell CK, Theriot JA, Sayat JG, Muchant

DG, Franco SM. A simplified table improves

the recognition of paediatric hypertension.

J Paediatr Child Health. 2011;47(1-2):22–26

 

13. Kaelber DC, Pickett F. Simple table to

identify children and adolescents needing

further evaluation of blood pressure. Pediatrics.

2009;123(6):e972–e974

 

14. Cohn JN, Quyyumi AA, Hollenberg NK,

Jamerson KA. Surrogate markers for cardiovascular

disease: functional markers.

Circulation. 2004;109(25 suppl 1):IV31–IV46

 

15. Vlachopoulos C, Aznaouridis K, Stefanadis

C. Prediction of cardiovascular events and

all-cause mortality with arterial stiffness:

a systematic review and meta-analysis. J

Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;55(13):1318–1327

 

16. Mancia G, De Backer G, Dominiczak A, et al;

The task force for the management of arterial

hypertension of the European Society

of Hypertension; The task force for the

management of arterial hypertension of

the European Society of Cardiology. 2007

guidelines for the management of arterial

hypertension: The task force for the management

of arterial hypertension of the

european society of hypertension (ESH)

and of the European society of cardiology

(ESC). Eur Heart J. 2007;28(12):1462–1536

 

17. Aatola H, Hutri-Kähönen N, Juonala M, et al.

Lifetime risk factors and arterial pulse

wave velocity in adulthood: the cardiovascular

risk in young Finns study. Hypertension.

2010;55(3):806–811

 

18. Aatola H, Koivistoinen T, Hutri-Kähönen N,

et al. Lifetime fruit and vegetable consumption

and arterial pulse wave velocity

in adulthood: the Cardiovascular Risk in

Young Finns Study. Circulation. 2010;122

(24):2521–2528

 

19. Li S, Chen W, Srinivasan SR, Berenson GS.

Childhood blood pressure as a predictor of

arterial stiffness in young adults: the

Bogalusa Heart Study. Hypertension. 2004;

43(3):541–546

 

20. Raitakari OT, Juonala M, Rönnemaa T, et al.

Cohort profile: the cardiovascular risk in

Young Finns Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37

(6):1220–1226

 

21. Uhari M, Nuutinen M, Turtinen J, Pokka T.

Pulse sounds and measurement of diastolic

blood pressure in children. Lancet.

1991;338(8760):159–161

 

22. Tahvanainen A, Koskela J, Tikkakoski A,

et al. Analysis of cardiovascular responses

to passive head-up tilt using continuous

pulse wave analysis and impedance cardiography.

Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2009;69

(1):128–137

 

23. Kööbi T, Kähönen M, Iivainen T, Turjanmaa V.

Simultaneous non-invasive assessment of

arterial stiffness and haemodynamics—

a validation study. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging.

2003;23(1):31–36

 

24. Koivistoinen T, Kööbi T, Jula A, et al. Pulse

wave velocity reference values in healthy

adults aged 26–75 years. Clin Physiol Funct

Imaging. 2007;27(3):191–196

 

25. Hlatky MA, Greenland P, Arnett DK, et al;

American Heart Association Expert Panel

on Subclinical Atherosclerotic Diseases

and Emerging Risk Factors and the Stroke

Council. Criteria for evaluation of novel

markers of cardiovascular risk: a scientific

statement from the American Heart Association

[published correction appears in

Circulation. 2009;119(25):e606]. Circulation.

2009;119(17):2408–2416

 

26. DeLong ER, DeLong DM, Clarke-Pearson DL.

Comparing the areas under two or more

correlated receiver operating characteristic

curves: a nonparametric approach.

Biometrics. 1988;44(3):837–845

 

27. Pencina MJ, D’Agostino RBS Sr, D’Agostino

RB Jr, Vasan RS. Evaluating the added

predictive ability of a new marker: from

area under the ROC curve to reclassification

and beyond. Stat Med. 2008;27(2):157–

172, discussion 207–212

 

28. Cook NR, Ridker PM. Advances in measuring

the effect of individual predictors of

cardiovascular risk: the role of reclassification

measures. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150

(11):795–802

 

29. Juonala M, Magnussen CG, Venn A, et al.

Influence of age on associations between

childhood risk factors and carotid intimamedia

thickness in adulthood: the Cardiovascular

Risk in Young Finns Study, the

Childhood Determinants of Adult Health

Study, the Bogalusa Heart Study, and the

Muscatine Study for the International Childhood

Cardiovascular Cohort (i3C) Consortium.

Circulation. 2010;122(24):2514–2520

 

30. Sun SS, Grave GD, Siervogel RM, Pickoff AA,

Arslanian SS, Daniels SR. Systolic blood

pressure in childhood predicts hypertension

and metabolic syndrome later in life.

Pediatrics. 2007;119(2):237–246

 

31. Juhola J, Oikonen M, Magnussen CG, et al.

Childhood physical, environmental, and

genetic predictors of adult hypertension:

the cardiovascular risk in young Finns

study. Circulation. 2012;126(4):402–409

 

32. Juonala M, Järvisalo MJ, Mäki-Torkko N,

Kähönen M, Viikari JS, Raitakari OT. Risk

factors identified in childhood and decreased

carotid artery elasticity in adulthood:

the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns

Study. Circulation. 2005;112(10):1486–1493

 

33. Zieman SJ, Melenovsky V, Kass DA. Mechanisms,

pathophysiology, and therapy of arterial

stiffness. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc

Biol. 2005;25(5):932–943

 

34. Greenwald SE. Ageing of the conduit

arteries. J Pathol. 2007;211(2):157–172

FUNDING: Supported by the Academy of Finland (grants 77841, 117832, 201888, 121584, and 126925); the Social Insurance Institution of Finland; the Turku University Foundation; the Medical Research Fund of Kuopio University Hospital; the Medical Research Fund of Tampere University Hospital; the Turku University Hospital Medical Fund; the Emil Aaltonen Foundation (T. Lehtimäki); the Juha Vainio Foundation; the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research; the Finnish Cultural Foundation; and The Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation.

Aatola H, et al “Simplified definitions of elevated pediatric blood pressure and high adult arterial stiffness” Pediatrics2013; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-3426.

 

Read Full Post »

Ultrasound imaging as an instrument for measuring tissue elasticity: “Shear-wave Elastography” VS. “Strain-Imaging”

Writer and curator: Dror Nir, PhD

In the context of cancer-management, imaging is pivotal. For decades, ultrasound is used by clinicians to support every step in cancer pathways. Its popularity within clinicians is steadily increasing despite the perception of it being less accurate and less informative than CT and MRI. This is not only because ultrasound is easily accessible and relatively low cost, but also because advances in ultrasound technology, mainly the conversion into PC-based modalities allows better, more reproducible, imaging and more importantly; clinically-effective image interpretation.

The idea to rely on ultrasound’s physics in order to measure the stiffness of tissue lesions is not new. The motivation for such measurement has to do with the fact that many times malignant lesions are stiffer than non-malignant lesions.

The article I bring below; http://digital.studio-web.be/digitalMagazine?issue_id=254 by Dr. Georg Salomon and his colleagues, is written for lay-readers. I found it on one of the many portals that are bringing quasi-professional and usually industry-sponsored information on health issues; http://www.dieurope.com/ – The European Portal for Diagnostic Imaging. Note, that when it comes to using ultrasound as a diagnostic aid in urology, Dr. Georg Salomon is known to be one of the early adopters for new technologies and an established opinion leader who published many peer-review, frequently quoted, papers on Elastography.

The important take-away I would like to highlight for the reader: Quantified measure of tissue’s elasticity (doesn’t matter if is done by ShearWave or another “Elastography” measure implementation) is information that has real clinical value for the urologists who needs to decide on the right pathway for his patient!

Note: the highlights in the article below are added by me for the benefit of the reader.

Improvement in the visualization of prostate cancer through the use of ShearWave Elastography

by:

Dr Georg Salomon1 Dr Lars Budaeus1, Dr L Durner2 & Dr K Boe1

1. Martini-Clinic — Prostate Cancer Center University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf Martinistrasse 52, 20253 Hamburg, Germany

2. Urologische Kilnik Dr. Castringius Munchen-Planegg Germeringer Str. 32, 82152 Planegg, Germany

Corresponding author; PD Dr. Georg Salomon

Associate Professor of Urology

Martini Clinic

Tel: 0049 40 7410 51300

gsalornon@uke.de

 

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males with more than 910,000 annual cases worldwide. With early detection, excellent cure rates can be achieved. Today, prostate cancer is diagnosed by a randomized transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy. However, such randomized “blind” biopsies can miss cancer because of the inability of conventional TRUS to visualize small cancerous spots in most cases.

Elastography has been shown to improve visualization of prostate cancer.

The innovative ShearWave Elastography technique is an automated, user-friendly and quantifiable method for the determination of prostatic tissue stiffness.

The detection of prostate cancer (PCA) has become easier thanks to Prostate Specific Anti­gen (PSA) testing; the diagnosis of PCA has been shifted towards an earlier stage of the disease.

Prostate cancer is, in more than 80 % of the cases, a heterogeneous and multifocal tumor. Conventional ultra­sound has limitations to accurately define tumor foci within the prostate. This is due to the fact that most PCA foci are isoechogenic, so in these cases there is no dif­ferentiation of benign and malignant tissue. Because of this, a randomized biopsy is performed under ultrasound guidance with at least 10 to 12 biopsy cores, which should represent all areas of the prostate. Tumors, however, can be missed by this biopsy regimen since it is not a lesion-targeted biopsy. When PSA is rising — which usually occurs in most men — the originally negative biopsy has to be repeated.

What urologists expect from imag­ing and biopsy procedures is the detection of prostate cancer at an early stage and an accurate description of all foci within the prostate with different (Gleason) grades of differentiation for best treatment options.

In the past 10 years a couple of new innovative ultrasound techniques (computerized, contrast enhanced and real time elastography) have been introduced to the market and their impact on the detection of early prostate cancer has been evaluated. The major benefit of elastography compared to the other techniques is its ability to provide visualization of sus­picious areas and to guide the biopsy needle, in real time, to the suspicious and potentially malignant area.

Ultrasound-based elastography has been investigated over the years and has had a lot of success for increasing the detection rate of prostate cancer or reducing the number of biopsy sam­ples required. [1-3]. Different compa­nies have used different approaches to the ultrasound elastography technique (strain elastography vs. shear wave elastography). Medical centers have seen an evolution in better image qual­ity with more stable and reproducible results from these techniques.

One drawback of real time strain elastography is that there is a sig­nificant learning curve to be climbed before reproducible elastograms can be generated. The technique has to be performed by compressing and then decompressing the ultrasound probe to derive a measurement of tissue displacement.

Today there are ultrasound scanners on the market, which have the ability to produce elastograms without this “manual” assistance: this technique is called shear-wave elastography. While the ultrasound probe is being inserted transrectally, the “elastograms” are generated automatically by the calcu­lation of shear wave velocity as the waves travel through the tissue being examined, thus providing measure­ments of tissue stiffness and not dis­placement measurements.

There are several different tech­niques for this type of elastography. The FibroScan system, which is not an ultrasound unit, uses shear waves (transient elastography) to evaluate the advancement of the stiffness of the liver. Another technique is Acous­tic Radiation Force Impulse or ARF1 technique, also used for the liver. These non-real-time techniques only provide a shear wave velocity estimation for a single region of interest and are not currently used in prostate imaging.

A shear wave technology that pro­vides specific quantification of tissue elasticity in real-time is ShearWave Elastography, developed by Super-Sonic Imagine. This technique mea­sures elasticity in kilopascals and can provide visual representation of tis­sue stiffness over the entire region of interest in a color-coded map on the ultrasound screen. On a split screen the investigator can see the conven­tional ultrasound B-mode image and the color-coded elastogram at the same time. This enables an anatomi­cal view of the prostate along with the elasticity image of the tissue to guide the biopsy needle.

In short, ShearWave Elastography (SWE) is a different elastography technique that can be used for several applications. It automatically gener­ates a real-time, reproducible, fully quantifiable color-coded image of tissue elasticity.

QUANTIFICATION OF TISSUE STIFFNESS Such quantification can help to increase the chance that a targeted biopsy is positive for cancer.

It has been shown that elastography-targeted biopsies have an up to 4.7 times higher chance to be positive for cancer than a randomized biopsy [4J. Shear-Wave Elastography can not only visual­ize the tissue stiffness in color but also quantify (in kPa) the stiffness in real time, for several organs including the prostate. Correas et al, reported that with tissue stiffness higher than 45 to 50 kPa the chance of prostate cancer is very high in patients undergoing a pros­tate biopsy. The data from Gorreas et al showed a sensitivity of 80 % and a high negative predictive value of up to 9096. Another group (Barr et A) achieved a negative predictive value of up to 99.6% with a sensitivity of 96.2% and specific­ity of 962%. With a cut-off of 4D kPa the positive biopsy rate for the ShearWave Elastography targeted biopsy was 50%, whereas for randomized biopsy it was 20.8 95. In total 53 men were enrolled in this study.

Our group used SWE prior to radical prostatectomy to determine if the Shear-Wave Elastography threshold had a high accuracy using a cutoff >55 kPa. (Fig 1)

We then compared the ShearWave results with the final histopathological results. [Figure I], Our results showed the accuracy was around 78 % for all tumor foci We were also able to verify that ShearWave Elastography targeted biopsies were more likely to be posi­tive compared to randomized biopsies. [Figures 2, 3]

F1

F2F3 

CONCLUSION

SWE is a non-invasive method to visualize prostate cancer foci with high accuracy, in a user-friendly way. As Steven Kaplan puts it in an edi­torial comment in the Journal of Urology 2013: “Obviously, large-scale studies with multicenter corroboration need to be performed. Nevertheless, SWE is a potentially promising modality to increase our efficiency in evaluating prostate diseases:’

 

REFERENCES

  1. Pallweln, L. et al-. Sonoelastography of the prostate: comparison with systematic biopsy findings in 492 patients. European journal of radiology, 2008. 65(2): p. 304-10.
  2. Pallwein, L., et al., Comparison of sono-elastography guided biopsy with systematic biopsy: Impact on prostate cancer detecton. European radiology, 2007_ 17.(9) p. 2278-85.
  3. Salomon, G., et al., Evaluation of prostate can cer detection with ultrasound real-time elas-tographyl a companion with step section path­ological analysis after radical prostatectomy. European urology, 2008. 5446): p. 135462-
  4. Aigner, F., at al., Value of real-time elastography targeted biopsy for prostate cancer detection in men with prostate specific antigen 125 ng/mi or greater and 4-00 ng/ml or Lass. The Journal of urology, 2010. 184{3): p. 813.7,

Other research papers related to the management of Prostate cancer and Elastography were published on this Scientific Web site:

Imaging: seeing or imagining? (Part 1)

Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: American Urological Association (AUA) Guideline

Today’s fundamental challenge in Prostate cancer screening

State of the art in oncologic imaging of Prostate.

From AUA2013: “HistoScanning”- aided template biopsies for patients with previous negative TRUS biopsies 

On the road to improve prostate biopsy

 

Read Full Post »

Transposon-mediated Gene Therapy improves Pulmonary Hemodynamics and attenuates Right Ventricular Hypertrophy: eNOS gene therapy reduces Pulmonary vascular remodeling and Arterial wall hyperplasia

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

Sleeping Beauty-mediated eNOS gene therapy attenuates monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats

  1. Li Liu*,
  2. Hanzhong Liu,
  3. Gary Visner and
  4. Bradley S. Fletcher,1

  1. *Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA;

  2.  

  3. Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; and

  4.  

  5. Medical Research Service, Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida, USA
  1. Correspondence: 1Correspondence: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 1600 S.W. Archer Rd., Box 100267, University of Florida, College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610-0267, USA. E-mail: bsf@pharmacology.ufl.edu

DISCUSSION

Despite the diverse origins of etiology of pulmonary hypertension, the various disorders share similar histological and pathological findings, including endothelial dysfunction and the proliferation of SMCs resulting in vascular remodelingin situ thrombus formation with obliteration of distal arterioles, and an inflammatory type reaction (2) . Treatment strategies for PH have relied on the use of vasodilators (e.g., calcium-channel blockers, prostacyclin) or phosphodiesterase inhibitors (e.g., sildenafil), which promote smooth muscle relaxation (4) . While pharmacological agents can be effective, potential drawbacks include the need for continuous i.v. infusion of prostacyclin derivatives or the use of nonselective vasodilators with potential side effects (3) . Inhaled NO has also been used as a treatment in patients with PH (41) ; however, its shortcomings include minimal response rates (∼10%), expense, the need for sophisticated delivery systems, and rebound hypertension (42) . These obstacles limit the therapeutic potential of the pharmacological approaches and suggest that alternative treatment modalities should be investigated.

As an alternative to simply promoting vasodilatation, an ideal strategy would be to combat the pathological processes that drive the increased pulmonary vascular resistance and loss of pulmonary microvasculature. This includes SMC proliferation and vascular remodeling, oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and abnormal levels of vasoconstrictive molecules such as endothelin-1 (ET-1) (43) and certain prostanoids (44 , 45) .

Gene therapy, especially multigene delivery, offers the possibility to overcome some of these pathological factors by using proteins or other genetic elements, such as RNA interference (RNAi), which target key regulators of vascular tone and regeneration. A growing body of literature points to the importance of endothelial-derived NO in promoting endothelial health and regulating vascular tone and regeneration.

Therefore, overexpression of eNOS, potentially in combination with inhibitors of expression of vasoconstrictor molecules (such as ET-1), is a therapeutic strategy that may reverse some of the pathological changes associated with late-stage PH.

In the present study, a severe model of PH (monocrotaline-induced) was used to test the ability of a nonviral approach to alleviate the pathological events leading to PH. Intravenous gene delivery of plasmid DNA complexed to the synthetic polymer polyethylenimine tends to transfect endothelial cells and type II pneumocytes within the lung (31 , 32 , 46) . Although endothelial cells would be ideal targets, we chose to use a very active nonspecific promoter to obtain the highest level of eNOS expression possible within the lung tissue. Using the CMV-driven eNOS transposon, we could demonstrate increased eNOS protein and nitrate production in vivo following gene transfer. In theory, increased NO production should lead to SMC relaxation, vasodilatation, and a reduction in PABP, which was observed in the hemodynamic studies (Fig. 3) .

However, a key factor in PH progression is increased pulmonary resistance due to SMC proliferation, intimal wall hyperplasia, and increased wall thickness. The histological data suggest that transposon-based eNOS expression prevented this hyperplasia and vascular remodeling. As NO has the ability to both inhibit SMCs proliferation and induce apoptosis (15 , 47 , 48) , it was unclear if the improvement in vascular remodeling was the result of growth inhibition or apoptotic effects of NO on SMCs. Tunnel assays on the histological sections revealed no significant difference in the amount of apoptosis in gene therapy-treated animals (data not shown), suggesting the effect was more on inhibition of SMC proliferation. Taken together, these results suggest that the

transposon-based approach can increase pulmonary NO production, reduce PABP, and attenuate right ventricular hypertrophy by preventing SMC proliferation and vascular remodeling.

Although SB has been used in other animal paradigms, this is the first report of using SB-mediated gene delivery to treat PH. Benefits of this approach, compared with several previous studies using adenovirus, include its nonviral delivery method, lack of inflammatory responses to viral components, cost-effectiveness, and ability to promote sustained therapeutic transgene expression. Given that SB transposons integrate within the host genome, there is some concern this approach may induce tumorigenic mutations, as has been seen with retrovirus (49) . Although this concern may be valid, SB is still considered one of the safest integrating vectors because of its near-random nature of integration (50) .

The problems associated with SB-mediated insertional mutagenesis could be overcome through the development of transposases with site-specific integration (51) . Lastly, clinically relevant delivery methods of plasmid DNA are still needed. Although the polymer PEI has recently been used in humans (52) , the efficiency of nonviral gene transfer could be improved through the synthesis more effective liposomes (e.g., cationic polymers and lipid) or lipoplexes with reduced toxicity. These complexes must be stable within plasma, transfect the pulmonary vasculature efficiently, and be able to navigate the cytoplasm to deliver the plasmid cargo to the nucleus. Given that few long-term treatment options,

other than lung transplantation, are available for PH, the success of this nonviral gene-based approach to attenuate the pathological processes driving PH warrants further investigations.

REFERENCES

  1. Machado, R. D., Pauciulo, M. W., Thomson, J. R., Lane, K. B., Morgan, N. V., Wheeler, L., Phillips, J. A., 3rd, Newman, J., Williams, D., Galie, N., et al (2001) BMPR2 haploinsufficiency as the inherited molecular mechanism for primary pulmonary hypertension. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 68,92-102Epub 2000 Dec 2012
  2. Hampl, V., Herget, J. (2000) Role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of chronic pulmonary hypertension. Physiol. Rev. 80,1337-1372
  3. Michelakis, E. D. (2003) The role of the NO axis and its therapeutic implications in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Heart Fail Rev. 8,5-21
  4. Strange, J. W., Wharton, J., Phillips, P. G., Wilkins, M. R. (2002) Recent insights into the pathogenesis and therapeutics of pulmonary hypertension. Clin. Sci. (Lond). 102,253-268
  5. Giaid, A., Saleh, D. (1995) Reduced expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in the lungs of patients with pulmonary hypertension. N. Engl. J. Med.333,214-221
  6. Tyler, R. C., Muramatsu, M., Abman, S. H., Stelzner, T. J., Rodman, D. M., Bloch, K. D., McMurtry, I. F. (1999) Variable expression of endothelial NO synthase in three forms of rat pulmonary hypertension. Am. J. Physiol. 276,L297-L303
  7. Champion, H. C., Bivalacqua, T. J., Greenberg, S. S., Giles, T. D., Hyman, A. L., Kadowitz, P. J. (2002) Adenoviral gene transfer of endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) partially restores normal pulmonary arterial pressure in eNOS-deficient mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99,13248-13253Epub 12002 Sep 13217
  8. Kouyoumdjian, C., Adnot, S., Levame, M., Eddahibi, S., Bousbaa, H., Raffestin, B. (1994) Continuous inhalation of nitric oxide protects against development of pulmonary hypertension in chronically hypoxic rats. J. Clin. Invest. 94,578-584
  9. Roberts, J. D., Jr, Chiche, J. D., Weimann, J., Steudel, W., Zapol, W. M., Bloch, K. D. (2000) Nitric oxide inhalation decreases pulmonary artery remodeling in the injured lungs of rat pups. Circ. Res. 87,140-145
  10. Champion, H. C., Bivalacqua, T. J., D’Souza, F. M., Ortiz, L. A., Jeter, J. R., Toyoda, K., Heistad, D. D., Hyman, A. L., Kadowitz, P. J. (1999) Gene transfer of endothelial nitric oxide synthase to the lung of the mouse in vivo. Effect on agonist-induced and flow-mediated vascular responses. Circ. Res. 84,1422-1432
  11. Budts, W., Pokreisz, P., Nong, Z., Van Pelt, N., Gillijns, H., Gerard, R., Lyons, R., Collen, D., Bloch, K. D., Janssens, S. (2000) Aerosol gene transfer with inducible nitric oxide synthase reduces hypoxic pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vascular remodeling in rats. Circulation 102,2880-2885
  12. Champion, H. C., Bivalacqua, T. J., Toyoda, K., Heistad, D. D., Hyman, A. L., Kadowitz, P. J. (2000) In vivo gene transfer of prepro-calcitonin gene-related peptide to the lung attenuates chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in the mouse. Circulation 101,923-930
  13. Louzier, V., Eddahibi, S., Raffestin, B., Deprez, I., Adam, M., Levame, M., Eloit, M., Adnot, S. (2001) Adenovirus-mediated atrial natriuretic protein expression in the lung protects rats from hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. Hum. Gene Ther. 12,503-513
  14. Partovian, C., Adnot, S., Raffestin, B., Louzier, V., Levame, M., Mavier, I. M., Lemarchand, P., Eddahibi, S. (2000) Adenovirus-mediated lung vascular endothelial growth factor overexpression protects against hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in rats. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 23,762-771
  15. Schmidt, H. H., Walter, U. (1994) NO at work. Cell 78,919-925
  16. Von der Leyen, H. E., Dzau, V. J. (2001) Therapeutic potential of nitric oxide synthase gene manipulation. Circulation 103,2760-2765
  17. Kay, M. A., Glorioso, J. C., Naldini, L. (2001) Viral vectors for gene therapy: the art of turning infectious agents into vehicles of therapeutics. Nat. Med. 7,33-40
  18. Thomas, C. E., Ehrhardt, A., Kay, M. A. (2003) Progress and problems with the use of viral vectors for gene therapy. Nat. Rev. Genet. 4,346-358
  19. Gong, F., Tang, H., Lin, Y., Gu, W., Wang, W., Kang, M. (2005) Gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor reduces bleomycin-induced pulmonary hypertension in immature rabbits. Pediatr. Int. 47,242-247
  20. Tahara, N., Kai, H., Niiyama, H., Mori, T., Sugi, Y., Takayama, N., Yasukawa, H., Numaguchi, Y., Matsui, H., Okumura, K., Imaizumi, T. (2004) Repeated gene transfer of naked prostacyclin synthase plasmid into skeletal muscles attenuates monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension and prolongs survival in rats. Hum. Gene Ther. 15,1270-1278
  21. Campbell, A. I., Zhao, Y., Sandhu, R., Stewart, D. J. (2001) Cell-based gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor attenuates monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension. Circulation 104,2242-2248
  22. Zhao, Y. D., Campbell, A. I., Robb, M., Ng, D., Stewart, D. J. (2003) Protective role of angiopoietin-1 in experimental pulmonary hypertension. Circ. Res. 92,984-991Epub 2003 Apr 2010
  23. Zhao, Y. D., Courtman, D. W., Ng, D. S., Robb, M. J., Deng, Y. P., Trogadis, J., Han, R. N., Stewart, D. J. (2006) Microvascular regeneration in established pulmonary hypertension by angiogenic gene transfer. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol.16,16
  24. Niidome, T., Huang, L. (2002) Gene therapy progress and prospects: nonviral vectors. Gene Ther. 9,1647-1652
  25. Ivics, Z., Hackett, P. B., Plasterk, R. H., Izsvak, Z. (1997) Molecular reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty, a Tc1-like transposon from fish, and its transposition in human cells. Cell 91,501-510
  26. Ohlfest, J. R., Frandsen, J. L., Fritz, S., Lobitz, P. D., Perkinson, S. G., Clark, K. J., Nelsestuen, G., Key, N. S., McIvor, R. S., Hackett, P. B., Largaespada, D. A. (2005) Phenotypic correction and long-term expression of factor VIII in hemophilic mice by immunotolerization and nonviral gene transfer using the Sleeping Beauty transposon system. Blood 105,2691-2698Epub 2004 Dec 2692
  27. Liu, L., Mah, C., Fletcher, B. S. (2006) Sustained FVIII expression and phenotypic correction of hemophilia a in neonatal mice using an endothelial-targeted Sleeping Beauty transposon. Mol. Ther. 3,3
  28. Yant, S. R., Meuse, L., Chiu, W., Ivics, Z., Izsvak, Z., Kay, M. A. (2000) Somatic integration and long-term transgene expression in normal and haemophilic mice using a DNA transposon system. Nat. Genet. 25,35-41
  29. Montini, E., Held, P. K., Noll, M., Morcinek, N., Al-Dhalimy, M., Finegold, M., Yant, S. R., Kay, M. A., Grompe, M. (2002) In vivo correction of murine tyrosinemia type I by DNA-mediated transposition. Mol. Ther. 6,759-769
  30. Goula, D., Benoist, C., Mantero, S., Merlo, G., Levi, G., Demeneix, B. A. (1998) Polyethylenimine-based intravenous delivery of transgenes to mouse lung.Gene Ther. 5,1291-1295
  31. Belur, L. R., Frandsen, J. L., Dupuy, A. J., Ingbar, D. H., Largaespada, D. A., Hackett, P. B., Scott McIvor, R. (2003) Gene insertion and long-term expression in lung mediated by the Sleeping Beauty transposon system. Mol. Ther. 8,501-507
  32. Liu, L., Sanz, S., Heggestad, A. D., Antharam, V., Notterpek, L., Fletcher, B. S. (2004) Endothelial targeting of the Sleeping Beauty transposon within lung. Mol. Ther. 10,97-105
  33. Dimmeler, S., Fleming, I., Fisslthaler, B., Hermann, C., Busse, R., Zeiher, A. M. (1999) Activation of nitric oxide synthase in endothelial cells by Akt-dependent phosphorylation. Nature 399,601-605
  34. Yew, N. S., Zhao, H., Przybylska, M., Wu, I. H., Tousignant, J. D., Scheule, R. K., Cheng, S. H. (2002) CpG-depleted plasmid DNA vectors with enhanced safety and long-term gene expression in vivo. Mol. Ther. 5,731-738
  35. Baus, J., Liu, L., Heggestad, A. D., Sanz, S., Fletcher, B. S. (2005) Hyperactive transposase mutants of the sleeping beauty transposon. Mol. Ther.12,1148-1156Epub 2005 Sep 1148
  36. Patel, J. M., Zhang, J., Block, E. R. (1996) Nitric oxide-induced inhibition of lung endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase via interaction with allosteric thiols: role of thioredoxin in regulation of catalytic activity. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 15,410-419
  37. Zhou, H., Liu, H., Porvasnik, S. L., Terada, N., Agarwal, A., Cheng, Y., Visner, G. A. (2006) Heme oxygenase-1 mediates the protective effects of rapamycin in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension. Lab. Invest. 86,62-71
  38. Guignabert, C., Raffestin, B., Benferhat, R., Raoul, W., Zadigue, P., Rideau, D., Hamon, M., Adnot, S., Eddahibi, S. (2005) Serotonin transporter inhibition prevents and reverses monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats. Circulation111,2812-2819
  39. Dupuy, A. J., Clark, K., Carlson, C. M., Fritz, S., Davidson, A. E., Markley, K. M., Finley, K., Fletcher, C. F., Ekker, S. C., Hackett, P. B., et al (2002) Mammalian germ-line transgenesis by transposition. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.99,4495-4499Epub 2002 Mar 4419
  40. Rudolph, C., Lausier, J., Naundorf, S., Muller, R. H., Rosenecker, J. (2000) In vivo gene delivery to the lung using polyethylenimine and fractured polyamidoamine dendrimers. J. Gene Med. 2,269-278
  41. Ichinose, F., Roberts, J. D., Jr, Zapol, W. M. (2004) Inhaled nitric oxide: a selective pulmonary vasodilator: current uses and therapeutic potential. Circulation109,3106-3111
  42. Miller, O. I., Tang, S. F., Keech, A., Celermajer, D. S. (1995) Rebound pulmonary hypertension on withdrawal from inhaled nitric oxide. Lancet 346,51-52
  43. Giaid, A., Yanagisawa, M., Langleben, D., Michel, R. P., Levy, R., Shennib, H., Kimura, S., Masaki, T., Duguid, W. P., Stewart, D. J. (1993) Expression of endothelin-1 in the lungs of patients with pulmonary hypertension. N. Engl. J. Med.328,1732-1739
  44. Galie, N., Manes, A., Branzi, A. (2003) Prostanoids for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am. J. Respir. Med. 2,123-137
  45. Galie, N., Manes, A., Branzi, A. (2004) The endothelin system in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Cardiovasc. Res. 61,227-237
  46. Goula, D., Becker, N., Lemkine, G. F., Normandie, P., Rodrigues, J., Mantero, S., Levi, G., Demeneix, B. A. (2000) Rapid crossing of the pulmonary endothelial barrier by polyethylenimine/DNA complexes. Gene Ther. 7,499-504
  47. Chen, L., Daum, G., Forough, R., Clowes, M., Walter, U., Clowes, A. W. (1998) Overexpression of human endothelial nitric oxide synthase in rat vascular smooth muscle cells and in balloon-injured carotid artery. Circ. Res. 82,862-870
  48. Pilane, C. M., LaBelle, E. F. (2004) NO induced apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells accompanied by ceramide increase. J. Cell Physiol. 199,310-315
  49. Hacein-Bey-Abina, S., von Kalle, C., Schmidt, M., Le Deist, F., Wulffraat, N., McIntyre, E., Radford, I., Villeval, J. L., Fraser, C. C., Cavazzana-Calvo, M., Fischer, A. (2003) A serious adverse event after successful gene therapy for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency. N. Engl. J. Med. 348,255-256
  50. Yant, S. R., Wu, X., Huang, Y., Garrison, B., Burgess, S. M., Kay, M. A. (2005) High-resolution genome-wide mapping of transposon integration in mammals. Mol. Cell Biol. 25,2085-2094
  51. Thyagarajan, B., Olivares, E. C., Hollis, R. P., Ginsburg, D. S., Calos, M. P. (2001) Site-specific genomic integration in mammalian cells mediated by phage phiC31 integrase. Mol. Cell Biol. 21,3926-3934
  52. Ohana, P., Gofrit, O., S, A., Al-Sharef, W., Mizrahi, A., Birman, T., Schneider, T., Matouk, I., de Groot, N., Tavdy, E., Ami Sidi, A., Hochberg, A. (2004) Regulatory sequences of the H19 gene in DNA based therapy of bladder cancer.Gene Ther. Mol. Biol. 8,181-192

http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/14/2594.full

http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/doi/10.1096/fj.06-6254fje

Other related articles published on this Open Access OnLine Scientific Journal, include the following:

How mobile elements in “Junk” DNA promote cancer. Part 1: Transposon-mediated tumorigenesis.

Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/31/how-mobile-elements-in-junk-dna-prote-cacner-part1-transposon-mediated-tumorigenesis/

Endothelial Dysfunction, Diminished Availability of cEPCs, Increasing CVD Risk for Macrovascular Disease –Therapeutic Potential of cEPCs

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/27/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/27/endothelial-dysfunction-diminished-availability-of-cepcs-increasing-cvd-risk-for-macrovascular-disease-therapeutic-potential-of-cepcs/

Genomics & Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease Diagnoses: A Literature Survey of AHA’s Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics, 3/2010 – 3/2013

Lev-Ari, A. and L H Bernstein 3/7/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/07/genomics-genetics-of-cardiovascular-disease-diagnoses-a-literature-survey-of-ahas-circulation-cardiovascular-genetics-32010-32013/

The Heart: Vasculature Protection – A Concept-based Pharmacological Therapy including THYMOSIN

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 2/28/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/28/the-heart-vasculature-protection-a-concept-based-pharmacological-therapy-including-thymosin/

Arteriogenesis and Cardiac Repair: Two Biomaterials – Injectable Thymosin beta4 and Myocardial Matrix Hydrogel

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 2/27/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/27/arteriogenesis-and-cardiac-repair-two-biomaterials-injectable-thymosin-beta4-and-myocardial-matrix-hydrogel/

Coronary artery disease in symptomatic patients referred for coronary angiography: Predicted by Serum Protein Profiles

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 12/29/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/29/coronary-artery-disease-in-symptomatic-patients-referred-for-coronary-angiography-predicted-by-serum-protein-profiles/

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-gamma) Receptors Activation: PPARγ transrepression for Angiogenesis in Cardiovascular Disease and PPARγ transactivation for Treatment of Diabetes

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 11/13/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/13/peroxisome-proliferator-activated-receptor-ppar-gamma-receptors-activation-pparγ-transrepression-for-angiogenesis-in-cardiovascular-disease-and-pparγ-transactivation-for-treatment-of-dia/

Clinical Trials Results for Endothelin System: Pathophysiological role in Chronic Heart Failure, Acute Coronary Syndromes and MI – Marker of Disease Severity or Genetic Determination?

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 10/19/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/19/clinical-trials-results-for-endothelin-system-pathophysiological-role-in-chronic-heart-failure-acute-coronary-syndromes-and-mi-marker-of-disease-severity-or-genetic-determination/

Endothelin Receptors in Cardiovascular Diseases: The Role of eNOS Stimulation

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 10/4/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/04/endothelin-receptors-in-cardiovascular-diseases-the-role-of-enos-stimulation/

Inhibition of ET-1, ETA and ETA-ETB, Induction of NO production, stimulation of eNOS and Treatment Regime with PPAR-gamma agonists (TZD): cEPCs Endogenous Augmentation for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction – A Bibliography

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 10/4/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/04/inhibition-of-et-1-eta-and-eta-etb-induction-of-no-production-and-stimulation-of-enos-and-treatment-regime-with-ppar-gamma-agonists-tzd-cepcs-endogenous-augmentation-for-cardiovascular-risk-reduc/

Positioning a Therapeutic Concept for Endogenous Augmentation of cEPCs — Therapeutic Indications for Macrovascular Disease: Coronary, Cerebrovascular and Peripheral

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/29/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/29/positioning-a-therapeutic-concept-for-endogenous-augmentation-of-cepcs-therapeutic-indications-for-macrovascular-disease-coronary-cerebrovascular-and-peripheral/

Cardiovascular Outcomes: Function of circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells (cEPCs): Exploring Pharmaco-therapy targeted at Endogenous Augmentation of cEPCs

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/28/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/28/cardiovascular-outcomes-function-of-circulating-endothelial-progenitor-cells-cepcs-exploring-pharmaco-therapy-targeted-at-endogenous-augmentation-of-cepcs/

Vascular Medicine and Biology: CLASSIFICATION OF FAST ACTING THERAPY FOR PATIENTS AT HIGH RISK FOR MACROVASCULAR EVENTS Macrovascular Disease – Therapeutic Potential of cEPCs

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/24/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/24/vascular-medicine-and-biology-classification-of-fast-acting-therapy-for-patients-at-high-risk-for-macrovascular-events-macrovascular-disease-therapeutic-potential-of-cepcs/

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and the Role of agent alternatives in endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Activation and Nitric Oxide Production

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 7/19/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/19/cardiovascular-disease-cvd-and-the-role-of-agent-alternatives-in-endothelial-nitric-oxide-synthase-enos-activation-and-nitric-oxide-production/

Resident-cell-based Therapy in Human Ischaemic Heart Disease: Evolution in the PROMISE of Thymosin beta4 for Cardiac Repair

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 4/30/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/04/30/93/

Triple Antihypertensive Combination Therapy Significantly Lowers Blood Pressure in Hard-to-Treat Patients with Hypertension and Diabetes

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 5/29/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/05/29/445/

Macrovascular Disease – Therapeutic Potential of cEPCs: Reduction Methods for CV Risk

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 7/2/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/02/macrovascular-disease-therapeutic-potential-of-cepcs-reduction-methods-for-cv-risk/

Mitochondria Dysfunction and Cardiovascular Disease – Mitochondria: More than just the “powerhouse of the cell”

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 7/9/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/09/mitochondria-more-than-just-the-powerhouse-of-the-cell/

Bystolic’s generic Nebivolol – positive effect on circulating Endothelial Proginetor Cells endogenous augmentation

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 7/16/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/16/bystolics-generic-nebivolol-positive-effect-on-circulating-endothilial-progrnetor-cells-endogenous-augmentation/

Heart Remodeling by Design – Implantable Synchronized Cardiac Assist Device: Abiomed’s Symphony

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 7/23/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/07/23/heart-remodeling-by-design-implantable-synchronized-cardiac-assist-device-abiomeds-symphony/

Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Decisions on implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) using left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and Midwall Fibrosis: Decisions on Replacement using late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular MR (LGE-CMR)

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 3/10/2013
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/10/dilated-cardiomyopathy-decisions-on-implantable-cardioverter-defibrillators-icds-using-left-ventricular-ejection-fraction-lvef-and-midwall-fibrosis-decisions-on-replacement-using-late-gadolinium/

PCI Outcomes, Increased Ischemic Risk associated with Elevated Plasma Fibrinogen not Platelet Reactivity

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 1/10/2013
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/10/pci-outcomes-increased-ischemic-risk-associated-with-elevated-plasma-fibrinogen-not-platelet-reactivity/

The ACUITY-PCI score: Will it Replace Four Established Risk Scores — TIMI, GRACE, SYNTAX, and Clinical SYNTAX

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/01/03/the-acuity-pci-score-will-it-replace-four-established-risk-scores-timi-grace-syntax-and-clinical-syntax/

Heart Renewal by pre-existing Cardiomyocytes: Source of New Heart Cell Growth Discovered

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 12/23/2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/12/23/heart-renewal-by-pre-existing-cardiomyocytes-source-of-new-heart-cell-growth-discovered/

Cardiovascular Risk Inflammatory Marker: Risk Assessment for Coronary Heart Disease and Ischemic Stroke – Atherosclerosis.

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 10/30/2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/30/cardiovascular-risk-inflammatory-marker-risk-assessment-for-coronary-heart-disease-and-ischemic-stroke-atherosclerosis/

To Stent or Not? A Critical Decision

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 10/23/2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/23/to-stent-or-not-a-critical-decision/

New Definition of MI Unveiled, Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR)CT for Tagging Ischemia

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/27/2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/27/new-definition-of-mi-unveiled-fractional-flow-reserve-ffrct-for-tagging-ischemia/

Expected New Trends in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medical Devices

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/17/2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/17/expected-new-trends-in-cardiology-and-cardiovascular-medical-devices/

Coronary Artery Disease – Medical Devices Solutions: From First-In-Man Stent Implantation, via Medical Ethical Dilemmas to Drug Eluting Stents

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 8/13/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/13/coronary-artery-disease-medical-devices-solutions-from-first-in-man-stent-implantation-via-medical-ethical-dilemmas-to-drug-eluting-stents/

Read Full Post »

Personalized Medicine and Colon Cancer

Author: Tilda Barliya, PhD

According to Dr. Neil Risch a leading expert in statistical genetics and the director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics,  “Personalized medicine, in which a suite of molecules measured in a patient’s lab tests can inform decisions about preventing or treating diseases, is becoming a reality” (7).

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth-leading cause of cancer death worldwide despite advances in screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Staging is the only prognostic classification used in clinical practice to select patients for adjuvant chemotherapy. However, pathological staging fails to predict recurrence accurately in many patients undergoing curative surgery for localized CRC (1,2). Most of the patients who are not eligible for surgery need adjuvant chemotherapy in order to avoid relapse or to increase survival. Unfortunately, only a small portion of them shows an objective response to chemotherapy, becoming problematic to correctly predict patients’ clinical outcome (3).

CRC patients are normally being tested for several known biomarkers which falls into 4 main categories (5):

  1. Chromosomal Instability (CIN)
  2. Microsatellite Instability (MSI)
  3. CpG Island methylator phynotype (CIMP)
  4. Global DNA hypomethylation

In the past few years many studies have exploited microarray technology to investigate gene expression profiles (GEPs) in CRC, but no established signature has been found that is useful for clinical practice, especially for predicting prognosis.  Only a subset of CRC patients with MSI tumors have been shown to have better prognosis and probably respond differently to adjuvant chemotherapy compared to microsatellite stable (MSS) cancer patients (6).

Pritchard & Grady have summarized the selected biomarkers that have been evaluated in colon cancer patients (10).

Table 1

Selected Biomarkers That Have Been Evaluated in Colorectal Cancer

Biomarker Molecular Lesion Frequency
in CRC
Prediction Prognosis Diagnosis
KRAS Codon 12/13 activating
mutations; rarely codon
61, 117,146
40% Yes Possible
BRAF V600E activating
mutation
10% Probable Probable Lynch
Syndrome
PIK3CA Helical and kinase
domain mutations
20% Possible Possible
PTEN Loss of protein by IHC 30% Possible
Microsatellite Instability (MSI) Defined as >30%
unstable loci in the NCI
consensus panel or
>40% unstable loci in a
panel of mononucleotide
microsatellite repeats9
15% Probable Yes Lynch
Syndrome
Chromosome Instability (CIN) Aneuploidy 70% Probable Yes
18qLOH Deletion of the long arm
of chromosome 18
50% Probable Probable
CpG Island Methylator
Phenotype (CIMP)
Methylation of at least
three loci from a selected
panel of five markers
15% +/− +/−
Vimentin (VIM) Methylation 75% Early
Detection
TGFBR2 Inactivating Mutations 30%
TP53 Mutations Inactivating Mutations 50%
APC Mutations Inactivating Mutations 70% FAP
CTNNB1 (β-Catenin) Activating Mutations 2%
Mismatch Repair Genes Loss of protein by IHC;
methylation; inactivating
mutations
1–15% Lynch
Syndrome

CRC- colorectal cancer; IHC- immunohistochemistry; FAP- Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

Examples for the great need of personalized medicine tailored according to the patients’ genetics is clearly seen with two specific drugs for CRC:  Cetuximab and panitumumab are two antibodies that were developed to treat colon cancer. However, at first it seemed as if they were a failure because they did not work in many patients. Then, it was discovered that if a cancer cell has a specific genetic mutation, known as K-ras, these drugs do not work.  This is an excellent example of using individual tumor genetics to predict whether or not treatment will work (8).

According to Marisa L et al, however, the molecular classification of CC currently used, which is based on a few common DNA markers as mentioned above (MSI, CpG island methylator phenotype [CIMP], chromosomal instability [CIN], and BRAF and KRAS mutations), needs to be refined.

Genetic Expression Profiles (GEP)

CRC is composed of distinct molecular entities that may develop through multiple pathways on the basis of different molecular features, as a consequence, there may be several prognostic signatures for CRC, each corresponding to a different entity. GEP studies have recently identified at least three distinct molecular subtypes of CC (4). Dr. Marisa Laetitia and her colleagues from the Boige’s lab however, have conducted a very thorough study and identifies 6 distinct clusters for CC patients. Herein, we’ll describe the majority of this study and their results.

Study  Design:

Marisa L et al (1) performed a consensus unsupervised analysis (using an Affymertix chip) of the GEP on tumor tissue sample from 750 patients with stage I to IV CC. Patients were staged according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging system. Of the 750 tumor samples of the CIT cohort, 566 fulfilled RNA quality requirements for GEP analysis. The 566 samples were split into a discovery set (n = 443) and a validation set (n = 123).

Several known mutations were used as internal controls, including:

  • The seven most frequent mutations in codons 12 and 13 of KRAS .
  • The BRAF c.1799T>A (p.V600E)
  • TP53mutations (exons 4–9)
  • MSI was analyzed using a panel of five different microsatellite loci from the Bethesda reference panel
  • CIMP status was determined using a panel of five markers (CACNA1G, IGF2, NEUROG1, RUNX3, and SOCS1)

Results:

The results revealed six clusters of samples based on the most variant probe sets. The consensus matrix showed that C2, C3, C4, and C6 appeared as well-individualized clusters, whereas there was more classification overlap between C1 and C5. In other words:

  • Tumors classified as C1, C5, and C6 were more frequently CIN+, CIMP−TP53 mutant, and distal (p<0.001), without any other molecular or clinicopathological features able to discriminate these three clusters clearly.
  • Tumors classified as C2, C4, and C3 were more frequently CIMP+ (59%, 34%, and 18%, respectively, versus <5% in other clusters) and proximal.
  • C2 was enriched for dMMR (68%) and BRAF- mutant tumors (40%).
  • C3 was enriched for KRAS- mutant tumors (87%).

Note: No association between clusters and TNM stage (histopathology) was found, except enrichment for metastatic (31%) tumors in C4.

Figure: These signaling pathways associated with the molecular subtype (by cluster)

Figure 2 Signaling pathways associated with each molecular subtype.

Marisa L et al. Signaling pathways associated with each molecular subtype

These clusters fall into several signaling pathways:

  • up-regulated immune system and cell growth pathways were found in C2, the subtype enriched for dMMR tumors
  • C4 and C6 both showed down-regulation of cell growth and death pathways and up-regulation of the epithelial–mesenchymal transition/motility pathways. displaying “stem cell phenotype–like” GEPs (91%)
  • Most signaling pathways were down-regulated in C1 and C3.
  • In C1, cell communication and immune pathways were down-regulated.
  • In C5, cell communication, Wnt, and metabolism pathways were up-regulated.

These results are further summarized in table 2:

Figure 3 Summary of the main characteristics of the six subtypes.

Marisa L et al. Gene Expression Classification of Colon Cancer into Molecular Subtypes

The authors have identified six robust molecular subtypes of CC individualized by distinct clinicobiological characteristics (as summarized in table 2).

This classification successfully identified the dMMR tumor subtype, and also individualized five other distinct subtypes among pMMR tumors, including three CIN+ CIMP− subtypes representing slightly more than half of the tumors. As expected, mutation of BRAF was associated with the dMMR subtype, but was also frequent in the C4 CIMP+ poor prognosis subtype. TP53– andKRAS-mutant tumors were found in all the subtypes; nevertheless, the C3 subtype, highly enriched in KRAS-mutant CC, was individualized and validated, suggesting a specific role of this mutation in this particular subgroup of CC.

Current Treatments for colon cancer- Table 3 (11) .

Constant S et al. Colon Cancer: Current Treatments and Preclinical Models for the Discovery and Development of New Therapies

Exploratory analysis of each subtype GEP with previously published supervised signatures and relevant deregulated signaling pathways improved the biological relevance of the classification.

The biological relevance of our subtypes was highlighted by significant differences in prognosis. In our unsupervised hierarchical clustering, patients whose tumors were classified as C4 or C6 had poorer RFS than the other patients.

Prognostic analyses based solely on common DNA alterations can distinguish between risk groups, but are still inadequate, as most CCs are pMMR CIMP− BRAFwt.

The markers BRAF-mutant, CIMP+, and dMMR may be useful for classifying a small proportion of cases, but are uninformative for a large number of patients.

Unfortunately, 5 of the 9 anti-CRC drugs approved by the FDA today are basic cytotoxic chemotherapeutics that attack cancer cells at a very fundamental level (i.e. the cell division machinery) without specific targets, resulting in poor effectiveness and strong side-effects (Table 3) (11).

An example for side effects induction mechanisms have also been reported in CRC for the BRAF(V600E) inhibitor Vemurafenib that triggers paradoxical EGFR activation (12).

Summary:

The authors of this study “report a new classification of CC into six robust molecular subtypes that arise through distinct biological pathways and represent novel prognostic subgroups. Our study clearly demonstrates that these gene signatures reflect the molecular heterogeneity of CC. This classification therefore provides a basis for the rational design of robust prognostic signatures for stage II–III CC and for identifying specific, potentially targetable markers for the different subtypes”.

These results further underline the urgent need to expand the standard therapy options by turning to more focused therapeutic strategies: a targeted therapy-for specific subtype profile.. Accordingly, the expansion and the development of new path of therapy, like drugs specifically targeting the self-renewal of intestinal cancer stem cells – a tumor cell population from which CRC is supposed to relapse, remains relevant.

Therefore, the complexity of these results supports the arrival of a personalized medicine, where a careful profiling of tumors will be useful to stratify patient population in order to test drugs sensitivity and combination with the ultimate goal to make treatments safer and more effective.

References:

1. Marisa L,  de Reyniès A, Alex Duval A,  Selves J, Pierre Gaub M, Vescovo L, Etienne-Grimaldi MC, Schiappa R, Guenot D, Ayadi M, Kirzin S, Chazal M, Fléjou JF…Boige V. Gene Expression Classification of Colon Cancer into Molecular Subtypes: Characterization, Validation, and Prognostic Value. PLoS Med May 2013 10(5): e1001453. doi:10.1371. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001453

2. Villamil BP, Lopez AR, Prieto SH, Campos GL, Calles A, Lopez- Asenjo JA, Sanz Ortega J, Perez CF, Sastre J, Alfonso R, Caldes T, Sanchez FM and Rubio ED. Colon cancer molecular subtypes identified by expression profiling and associated to stroma, mucinous type and different clinical behavior. BMC Cancer 2012, 12:260.  http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/12/260/

3. Diaz-Rubio E, Tabernero J, Gomez-Espana A, Massuti B, Sastre J, Chaves M, Abad A, Carrato A, Queralt B, Reina JJ, et al.: Phase III study of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin compared with continuous-infusion fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin as first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer: final report of the Spanish Cooperative Group for the Treatment of Digestive Tumors Trial. J Clin Oncol 2007, 25(27):4224-4230. http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/25/27/4224.long

4. Salazar R, Roepman P, Capella G, Moreno V, Simon I, et al. (2011) Gene expression signature to improve prognosis prediction of stage II and III colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol 29: 17–24. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title%20Word&term=Salazar%5Bauthor%5D%20AND%20Gene%20expression%20signature%20to%20improve%20prognosis%20prediction%20of%20stage%20II%20and%20III%20colorectal%20cancer

5.  By: Global Genome Knowledge. Colorectal Cancer- Personalized Medicine, Now a Clinical Reality.  http://www.srlworld.com/innersense/Voice-135-Colorectal-Cancer-Sept-2012-IS.pdf

6. Popat S, Hubner R and Houlston RS. Systematic review of microsatellite instability and colorectal cancer prognosis. J Clin Oncol. 2005 Jan 20;23(3):609-618. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15659508

7. By: Jeffrey Norris. Value of Genomics and Personalized Medicine Is Wrongly Downplayed.http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/04/11864/value-genomics-and-personalized-medicine-wrongly-downplayed

8. By: James C Salwitz. The Future is now: Personalized Medicine. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/expertvoices/post/2012/04/18/the-future-is-now-personalized-medicine.aspx

9. Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt., and Robert J. Mayer. Systemic Therapy for Colorectal Cancer. N Engl J Med 2005;352:476-487. http://www.med.upenn.edu/gastro/documents/NEJMchemotherapycolorectalcancer.pdf

10. Pritchard CC and Grady WM. Colorectal Cancer Molecular Biology Moves Into Clinical Practice. Gut. Jan 2011 60(1): 116-129.  Gut. 2011 January; 60(1): 116–129http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3006043/

11. Constant S, Huang S, Wiszniewski L andMas C. Colon Cancer: Current Treatments and Preclinical Models for the Discovery and Development of New Therapies.  Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science » “Drug Discovery”, book edited by Hany A. El-Shemy, ISBN 978-953-51-0906-8.  http://www.intechopen.com/books/drug-discovery/colon-cancer-current-treatments-and-preclinical-models-for-the-discovery-and-development-of-new-ther

12. Prahallad, C. Sun, S. Huang, F. Di Nicolantonio, R. Salazar, D. Zecchin, R. L. Beijersbergen, A. Bardelli, R. Bernards, 2012 Unresponsiveness of colon cancer to BRAF(V600E) inhibition through feedback activation of EGFR. Nature Jan 2012 483 (7387): 100-103. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7387/full/nature10868.html

Other related articles on this Open Access Online Scientific Journal include the following:

*. By Tilda Barliya PhD. Colon Cancer. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/30/colon-cancer/

**. By: Tilda Barliya PhD. CD47: Target Therapy for Cancer. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/07/cd47-target-therapy-for-cancer/

I. By: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RNCancer Genomic Precision Therapy: Digitized Tumor’s Genome (WGSA) Compared with Genome-native Germ Line: Flash-frozen specimen and Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded Specimen Needed. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/21/cancer-genomic-precision-therapy-digitized-tumors-genome-wgsa-compared-with-genome-native-germ-line-flash-frozen-specimen-and-formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded-specimen-needed/

II. By: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN. Critical Gene in Calcium Reabsorption: Variants in the KCNJ and SLC12A1 genes – Calcium Intake and Cancer Protection. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/12/critical-gene-in-calcium-reabsorption-variants-in-the-kcnj-and-slc12a1-genes-calcium-intake-and-cancer-protection/

III.  By: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.DIssues in Personalized Medicine in Cancer: Intratumor Heterogeneity and Branched Evolution Revealed by Multiregion Sequencing. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/10/issues-in-personalized-medicine-in-cancer-intratumor-heterogeneity-and-branched-evolution-revealed-by-multiregion-sequencing/

IV. By: Ritu Saxena, Ph.DIn Focus: Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/27/in-focus-targeting-of-cancer-stem-cells/

V.  By: Ziv Raviv PhD. Cancer Screening at Sourasky Medical Center Cancer Prevention Center in Tel-Aviv. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/25/tel-aviv-sourasky-medical-center-cancer-prevention-center-excellent-example-for-adopting-prevention-of-cancer-as-a-mean-of-fighting-it/

VI. By: Ritu Saxena, PhD. In Focus: Identity of Cancer Stem Cells. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/22/in-focus-identity-of-cancer-stem-cells/

VII. By: Dror Nir, PhD. State of the art in oncologic imaging of Colorectal cancers. http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/02/02/state-of-the-art-in-oncologic-imaging-of-colorectal-cancers/

Read Full Post »

Imaging Biomarker for Arterial Stiffness: Pathways in Pharmacotherapy for Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia Management

Author, and Content Consultant to e-SERIES A: Cardiovascular Diseases: Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC

and

Article Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

This article has Four Parts:

Part 1:

Quantification of Arterial Stiffness selected for its Predictive Value for Cardiovascular (CV) Events.

Arterial stiffness can predict cardiovascular adverse events such as stroke and heart attack. While there are various ways to define and estimate arterial stiffness, relatively simple surrogates have clinical advantages and favorable reports regarding predictive accuracy. This article will review in particular carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) as an imaging-based biomarker of arterial stiffness.

Part II:

Results for Advances and Recent Clinical Trials in Hypertension Management

Caution is required in the interpretation of trial results, due to the Hawthorne Effect: participation in a trial confers benefits to all groups. Usually the Hawthorne effect is attributed to the close attention and is considered transient, but it can have lasting impact. In a retrospective cohort study, the benefits of participation in clinical trials irrespective of the treatment allocation were illustrated by better persistence and adherence to prescribed medication long term.

  • Participation in a clinical trial enhances adherence and persistence to treatment: a retrospective cohort study.

Hypertension . 2011 ; 58 : 573 – 578 .

  • It is proving more and more difficult to show incremental benefit of new therapies over standard therapy in control groups that are on background therapy marked by high statin, antiplatelet, and other antihypertensive therapy rates, as well as more overweight and obesity and less tobacco use than in the past.

Participation in a Clinical Trial Enhances Adherence and Persistence to Treatment, A Retrospective Cohort Study Chronobiol Int . 2011 ; 28 : 601 – 610.

 Cardiorenal end points in a trial of Aliskiren for type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med . 2012 ; 367 : 2204 – 2213.

Part III:

Pharmacotherapy for Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia Management: Mechanism of Action of Top 10 Cardio Drugs 2012, published on May 16, 2013. FiercePharma reports the top 10 drugs from expenditure standpoint:

Part IV: Management Aspects of the Global Pharmaceutical Industry

The 20 Highest-Paid Biopharma CEOs of 2012 are also reported by FiersePharma.

Part 1:

Quantification of Arterial Stiffness selected for its Predictive Value for Cardiovascular (CV) Events.

based on

Stéphane Laurent, Elie Mousseaux and Pierre Boutouyrie, Arterial Stiffness as an Imaging Biomarker : Are All Pathways Equal?

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01372.citation

In a recent meta-analysis,2 Seventeen longitudinal studies totalizing 15,877 subjects with a mean follow-up of 7.7 years showed, for 1 SD increase in PWV, a risk ratio of 1.47 (1.31–1.64) for total mortality, 1.47 (1.29–1.66) for CV mortality, and 1.42 (1.29–1.58) for all-cause mortality.

Aortic stiffness, measured through cfPWV, can thus be considered as a novel imaging biomarker for predicting CV events, although its value as a true surrogate end point requires a large intervention trial to demonstrate that the reduction in arterial stiffness translates into a reduction in CV events.

Prediction of Occurrence of Cardiovascular Events Independently of Left Ventricular Mass in Hypertensive Patients: Monitoring of Timing of Korotkoff Sounds as Indicator of Arterial Stiffness

In this article by Gosse et al7 published in the present issue of Hypertension, the Authors provides an important contribution with regard to the predictive value of arterial stiffness for CV events for the following reasons:

  • First, the authors reported that arterial stiffness, measured in a population of 793 patients with hypertension with a mean follow-up of 97 months, was independently related to all CV events, major CV events, and total mortality. Interestingly, the predictive value was significant in all subgroups of CV risk, defined by a low, medium, or high SCORE risk. These findings confirmed those of previous studies.
  • Second, the authors took advantage of the simultaneous measurement of 24-hour blood pressure (BP) to include 24-hour mean BP in the multivariate Cox analysis, and this is a novelty. Thus, they were able to provide the demonstration that the predictive value of arterial stiffness is not only independent of office BP, as shown in most epidemiological studies, but also of 24-hour mean BP and pulse pressure (or alternatively 24-hour systolic and diastolic BPs) simultaneously measured.
  • Third, among the 793 patients, 519 patients had baseline measurements of arterial stiffness before any antihypertensive treatment, and the remaining 274 patients had measurement during the follow- up period. The independent predictive value of arterial stiffness was significant whether measured before or after the administration of antihypertensive treatment.
  • Finally, Gosse et al 7 showed, in a subgroup of 523 patients who had a measurement of left ventricular mass index, that the predictive value of arterial stiffness for major CV events was independent of left ventricular mass index. The authors thus confirmed the very few epidemiological studies which analyzed the predictive value of biomarkers of target organ damages (ie, left ventricular mass index, urinary albumin excretion rate, carotid intimamedia thickness, and arterial stiffness) and found that arterial stiffness retained a significant predictive value when adjusted either to left ventricular mass index6 or carotid intima-media thickness.5
  • The method which has been used to determine arterial stiffness. Indeed, Gosse et al 8 proposed, 2 decades ago, to take advantage of an ambulatory measurement of BP and continuous monitoring of ECG >24 hours, to calculate the QKD interval. QKD is the time between the onset of the QRS on the ECG and the detection of the last Korotkoff sound by the microphone placed on the brachial artery. It has 2 components:
  1. the pre-ejection time, which is influenced by heart rate and
  2. the pulse transmission time, which is inversely related to PWV, and arterial stiffness.
  • BP and QKD are measured repeatedly, and a stiffness parameter is derived from the linear regression of all the measurements of QKD, heart rate, and systolic BP >24 hours. The QKD interval is calculated for a 100-mm Hg BP, thus it gives an isobaric value of arterial stiffness, and for a 60-beats/min heart rate to reduce the influence of the pre-ejection time.
  • Most importantly, the arterial pathway of pulse wave transmission includes the ascending aorta, the aortic arch, and muscular arteries (subclavian and brachial), and thus,
  • differs from the carotid-femoral pathway of the cfPWV measurement, considered as gold standard for arterial stiffness.9
  • cfPWV is calculated as the ratio of the transit time between the feet of the carotid and femoral pressure waveforms, and the carotid-femoral distance, a ratio which is undisputedly recognized as a stiffness parameter. Several studies and a consensus statement have determined the correction factor, which should be applied to the carotid-femoral distance, to take into account the fact that, when the pressure wave is recorded at the carotid level, it has already reached the descending thoracic aorta.
  • The pressure wave travels mostly along an aortic segment, including the thoracic descending aorta and the abdominal aorta, and ultimately travels along the iliac and common femoral arteries. This is well exemplified by the Figure, which superimposes the trajectory of the pressure pulse wave on a normal angiogram obtained by magnetic resonance imaging.

VIEW FIGURE

The trajectories of the pressure pulse waves along the arterial segments are superimposed onto an angiogram obtained by computed tomography scan (left anterior oblique). The carotid-femoral pathway is described as dotted line, and the QKD pathway is described as dashed line.

pap62

FIGURE SOURCE:

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01372.citation

The method developed by Gosse et al 7,8 measures the time delay between the onset of the QRS on the ECG and the detection of the last Korotkoff sound by the microphone placed on the brachial artery. Thus, the pressure pulse wave travels first along the ascending aorta and the aortic arch (ie, a short pathway of elastic arteries) and then along the subclavian and brachial arteries (ie, a much longer pathway of muscular arteries).

Because the stiffness of muscular arteries is little influenced by age and hypertension, Gosse et al8 attributed the difference in QKD duration to ascending aorta and aortic arch. However, a closer look at the Figure shows that the length of the ascending and aortic arch pathway represents a very small part of the total pathway and casts doubt about this statement.

Furthermore, in magnetic resonance imaging studies, the transit time of flow wave along the aortic arch (average 120 mm length) is often found ≈35 ms in young healthy subjects,10 a value which is far from the mean 206 ms QKD duration found in the present study. Thus, part of that QFD duration has to be further explained by both the preejection period and the transit time within muscular arteries.

Alternative Devices

  • 2008 – The arteriograph system estimates PWV from a single-site determination of the suprasystolic waveform at the brachial artery site, and measures the time elapsed between the first wave ejected from the left ventricle to the aortic root, and its reflection from the bifurcation as the second systolic wave, with subtraction of the brachial artery transit time.
  • 2010 – The Mobil-O-Graph system uses oscillometric recording of brachial artery pressure waveform and reconstructs the central pulse wave by applying a transfer function. Central pulse wave is then decomposed into forward and backward waves, and PWV isestimated from their time difference.
  • Device |Method |Arterial Pathway |Predictive Value for CV Events | (Year of First Publication)

1984 Complior Mechanotransducer Carotid-femoral Yes (1999)

1990 Sphygmocor Tonometer Carotid-femoral Yes (2011)

1994 QKD ECG + Korotkoff sounds Aorta + brachial Yes (2005)

1997 Cardiov. Eng. Inc Tonometer Carotid-femoral Yes (2010)

2002 Doppler probes Doppler probe Aortic arch + descending aorta Yes (2002)

2002 VP-1000 Omron Brachial and ankle pressure cuffs Aorta + brachial + lower limbs Yes (2005)

2004 PulsePen Tonometer Carotid-femoral No

2006 CAVI-VaSera ECG + Brachial and ankle pressure cuffs Aorta + brachial + lower limbs No

2008 Arteriograph Arm pressure cuff Aorta + brachial No

2009 MRI-ArtFun MRI Aortic arch No

2009 Vicorder Cuffs Carotid-femoral No

2010 Mobil-O-Graph Arm pressure cuff Aorta No

Conclusions

The measurement of arterial stiffness is increasingly popular among physicians and researchers mainly because its predictive value for cardiovascular (CV) events has been well demonstrated. The largest amount of evidence has been given for aortic stiffness, measured through carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV). This has been initially reported in the late 1990s or early 2000s.1

Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patientsHypertension. 2001;37:1236–1241.

European Network for Non-invasive Investigation of Large Arteries. Expert consensus document on arterial stiffness: methodological issues and clinical applicationsEur Heart J. 2006;27:2588–2605.

Arterial Stiffness as an Imaging Biomarker : Are All Pathways Equal? http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01372.citation

References for Imaging Biomarker for Arterial Stiffness, at the end of the paper

Part II:

Results for Advances and Recent Clinical Trials in Hypertension Management

Based on

Garry L.R. Jennings, Recent Advances in Hypertension:Recent Clinical Trials of Hypertension Management http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00863.citation

Trends: tended to drive interest toward equivalence rather than efficacy studies (ie, trials designed to show an investigational agent is as good as, not better than, existing treatment), surrogate end points, including new blood pressure (BP) variables, and studies of combinations and algorithms rather than single interventions. Population studies around the world, however, continue to show that large numbers of people have hypertension that is not treated satisfactorily and are not achieving the goals set by the major national guidelines. These guidelines themselves are under continual scrutiny on the basis of recent data casting doubt on the validity of present BP goals. Guideline committees also face the issue that evidence based on expensive large-scale clinical trials is more often funded by the pharmaceutical or device industries than by government, leaving large evidence gaps in areas of public importance but no direct interest to industry funders. The purpose of the present article is to briefly review clinical trials of interventions in hypertension during the past 2 years.

Subject categories of Last Decade Clinical Trials on Hypertension

  • Resistant Hypertension
  • Resistant Hypertension and the Sympathetic
  • Nervous System
  • Trials of Pharmacotherapy
  • Old Ground, New Findings
  • Are Chlorthalidone and Nonthiazides the Best Diuretics for Treatment of Hypertension?
  • BP Targets and Treatment
  • Lifestyle and Nonpharmacological Approaches to Hypertension
  1.  Sodium
  2. Trials of Nutrition and BP
  • Resistance Exercise and BP

What Can Be Learned From Clinical Trials Reported in the Present Decade?

  • Systems for blood pressure management in the community can be improved because a large treatment gap remains.
  • Drug combinations from different classes with different modes of action are useful.
  • Drug combinations that include drugs with similar mode of action do not generally enhance efficacy and come at a cost in adverse events.
  • Small but important nutritional effects on blood pressure demand further examination.
  • The sympathetic nervous system has returned as an important target for therapy of hypertension.
  • Blood pressure targets and goals need refining, preferably on the basis of specifically designed clinical trials.

The scene for clinical trials of hypertension management is in transition. The era of mega trials may not be over but is certainly in decline, and in the past 2 years there have been no studies reporting primary outcome data the scale of the

  • Antihypertensive and
  • Lipid-Lowering Treatment
  1. Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT),
  2. The ONgoing Telmisartan Alone and in combination with Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial (ONTARGET),
  3. Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT), and other
  4. major studies that marked clinical trial activity and informed guideline committees during the past 2 to 3 decades.

This reflects in part the view that the

  • present benchmark pharmacological agents for treating hypertension are difficult to improve,
  • some systemic issues affecting the pharmaceutical industry influencing the ability to make the large investment required to perform mega trials and
  • the quality of the antihypertensive drug pipeline.

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00863.citation

References for Clinical Trial on Hypertension, at the end of the paper

Part III:

Mechanism of Action of Top 10 Cardio Drugs 2012, published on May 16, 2013

The top 10 Cardio Drugs in 2012 belong to two drug classes

  • Antihypertensive and
  • Lipid-Lowering Treatment

Sales % Change 2012 vs 2011 by Drug Class

MOA

By

Drug Class

Drug Name

2011 Sales billion

2012 Sales billion

% change

Statins

Crestor

6.622

6.253

-6%

Lipitor

9.577

3.948

-59%

Zetia

2.428

2.567

+6%

Vytorin

1.882

1.747

-7%

Total Sales and % change Statins

 20,509  14,515  -29.2%

ARB

Diovan

5.665

4.417

-22%

ACEII

Benicar

2.602

2.446

-6%

ACEI

Micardis

2.217

2.098

-5%

ARB

Avapro

1.797

1.422

-30% (BMS)

ARB

Blopress

1.808

1.643

-9%

PAH

Tracleer

1.721

1.6

-7%

Total Sales and % change AntiHTN

 15,810  13,626  -13.8%

Data Source:

http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/top-10-cardio-drugs-2012#ixzz2U9Axh8X4 

1 Crestor

Crestor (AstraZeneca)
Patent expiry: July 2016

2012 sales: $6.253 billion
2011 sales: $6.622 billion
Change: (6%)

Crestor – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/crestor-0#ixzz2UACLZyaa 

(rosuvastatin calcium) is indicated as an adjunct to diet to reduce elevated Total-C, LDL-C, ApoB, non-HDL-C, and triglycerides, and to increase HDL-C in adult patients with primary hyperlipidemia or mixed dyslipidemia and to slow the progression of atherosclerosis in adult patients as part of a treatment strategy to lower Total-C and LDL-C to target levels.1

Diovan

Diovan (Novartis)
Patent expiry: September 2012

2012 sales: $4.417 billion
2011 sales: $5.665 billion
Change: (22%)

Diovan – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/diovan#ixzz2UACdBCtZ 

Valsartan (Angiotan or Diovan) is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (more commonly called an “ARB”, or angiotensin receptor blocker), with particularly high affinity for the type I (AT1) angiotensin receptor. By blocking the action of angiotensin, valsartan dilates blood vessels and reduces blood pressure.[1] In the U.S., valsartan is indicated for treatment of high blood pressurecongestive heart failure (CHF), or post-myocardial infarction (MI).[2]

3 Lipitor

Lipitor (Pfizer)
Patent expiry: November 2011

2012 sales: $3.948 billion
2011 sales: $9.577 billion
Change: (59%)

Lipitor – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/lipitor-2#ixzz2UACsJ2Y2 

(atorvastatin calcium) tablets are a prescription medicine that is used along with a low-fat diet. It lowers the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood. It can raise your HDL (“good”) cholesterol as well. LIPITOR can lower the risk for heart attack, stroke, certain types of heart surgery, and chest pain in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease such as age, smoking, high blood pressure, low HDL, or family history of early heart disease. LIPITOR can lower the risk for heart attack or stroke in patients with diabetes and risk factors such as diabetic eye or kidney problems, smoking, or high blood pressure.

LIPITOR is a member of the drug class known as statins, used for lowering blood cholesterol. It also stabilizes plaque and prevents strokes through anti-inflammatory and other mechanisms. Like all statins, atorvastatin works by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme found in liver tissue that plays a key role in production of cholesterol in the body.

Atorvastatin was first synthesized in 1985 by Bruce Roth of Parke-Davis Warner-Lambert Company (now Pfizer). The best selling drug in pharmaceutical history, sales of Lipitor since it was approved in 1996 exceed US$125 billion, and the drug has topped the list of best-selling branded pharmaceuticals in the world for nearly a decade

4 Zetia

Zetia (Merck)
Patent expiry: December 2016

2012 sales: $2.567 billion
2011 sales: $2.428 billion
Change: 6%

Zetia – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/zetia#ixzz2UADFaGJ0 

Ezetimibe (pron.: /ɛˈzɛtɨmɪb/) is a drug that lowers plasma cholesterol levels. It acts by decreasing cholesterol absorption in the intestine. It may be used alone (marketed as Zetia or Ezetrol), when other cholesterol-lowering medications are not tolerated, or together withstatins (e.g., ezetimibe/simvastatin, marketed as Vytorin and Inegy) when statins alone do not control cholesterol.

Ezetimibe decreases cholesterol levels, but has not been shown to improve outcomes in cardiovascular disease patients by decreasing atherosclerotic or vascular events compared to placebo. Ezetimibe is endorsed in the Canadian Lipid Guidelines and is considered a well-tolerated option for an add-on agent to statin, to help patients achieve their LDL (or bad cholesterol) targets. [1] Ezetimibe is the only add-on to statin therapy that has successfully shown cardiovascular benefit when combined with statin, but has not been proven to have an incremental benefit compared to statins alone. [2] Britain’s NICE statement, published in 2007, endorses its use for monotherapy if statins are not tolerated or as add-on therapy.[3]

5 Benicar

Benicar (Daiichi Sankyo)
Patent expiry: October 2016

2012 sales: $2.446 billion
2011 sales: $2.602 billion
Change: (6%)

Benicar – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/benicar#ixzz2UADYvld5 

BENICAR and BENICAR HCT are prescription medicines used to lower high blood pressure (hypertension). They may be used alone or with other medicines used to treat high blood pressure. BENICAR HCT is not for use as the first medicine to treat high blood pressure.

 Olmesartan medoxomil is an angiotensin II receptor antagonistused to treat high blood pressure.

Olmesartan is a prodrug that works by blocking the binding of angiotensin II to the AT1 receptors in vascular muscle; it is therefore independent of angiotensin II synthesis pathways, unlike ACE inhibitors. By blocking the binding rather than the synthesis of angiotensin II, olmesartan inhibits the negative regulatory feedback on renin secretion. As a result of this blockage, olmesartan reduces vasoconstriction and the secretion of aldosterone. This lowers blood pressure by producing vasodilation, and decreasing peripheral resistance.

6 Micardis

Micardis (Boehringer Ingelheim)
Patent Expiry: January 2014

2012 Sales: $2.098 billion
2011 Sales: $2.217 billion
Change: (5%)

Micardis – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/micardis#ixzz2UADpDZeO 

Micardis® (telmisartan) tablets are a prescription medicine used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension). Additionally, MICARDIS 80 mg tablets are used in certain high-risk people aged 55 years and older who are unable to take a medicine called an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) to help lower their risk of having certain cardiovascular problems such as stroke, heart attack, or death.

Micardis® (telmisartan) tablets are a prescription medicine used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension).

Telmisartan (INN) (pron.: /tɛlmɪˈsɑrtən/) is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (angiotensin receptor blocker, ARB) used in the management of hypertension. It is marketed under thetrade name Micardis (by Boehringer Ingelheim), among others.

Telmisartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker that shows high affinity for the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1), with a binding affinity 3000 times greater for AT1 than AT2. It has the longest half-life of any ARB (24 hours)[1][4] and the largest volume of distribution.

In addition to blocking the RAs, telmisartan acts as a selective modulator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ), a central regulator of insulin and glucose metabolism. It is believed that telmisartan’s dual mode of action may provide protective benefits against the vascular and renal damage caused by diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).[4]

Telmisartan’s activity at the PPAR-γ receptor has prompted speculation around its potential as a sport doping agent as an alternative to GW 501516.[5] Telmisartan activates PPARδ receptors in several tissues. [6][7][8][9]

7 Avapro

Avapro (Sanofi)
Patent expiry: March 2012

Total 2012 sales: $1.925 billion
2012 sales Sanofi: $1.422 billion
2012 sales BMS: $503 million

Total 2011 sales: $2.749 billion
2011 sales Sanofi: $1.797 billion
2011 sales BMS: $952 million
Total Change: (30%)

Avapro – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/avapro#ixzz2UAE9iB2E 

rbesartan (INN) (pron.: /ɜrbəˈsɑrtən/) is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist used mainly for the treatment of hypertension. Irbesartan was developed by Sanofi Research (now part ofsanofi-aventis). It is jointly marketed by sanofi-aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb under the trade names AprovelKarvea, and Avapro.

As with all angiotensin II receptor antagonists, irbesartan is indicated for the treatment ofhypertension. Irbesartan may also delay progression of diabetic nephropathy and is also indicated for the reduction of renal disease progression in patients with type 2 diabetes,[1]hypertension and microalbuminuria (>30 mg/24 hours) or proteinuria (>900 mg/24 hours).[2]

 A large randomized trial following 4100+ men and women with heart failure and normal ejection fraction (>=45%) over 4+ years found no improvement in study outcomes or survival with irbesartan as compared to placebo.[3]

8 Vytorin

Vytorin (Merck)
Patent Expiry: April 2017

2012 sales: $1.747 billion
2011 sales: $1.882 billion
Change: (7%)

Vytorin – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/vytorin#ixzz2UAEQVcQr 

Ezetimibe/simvastatin (pron.: /ɛˈzɛtɨmɪb ˌsɪmvəˈstætɨn/) is a drug combination used for the treatment of dyslipidemia. It is a combination of ezetimibe (best known as Zetia in the United States and Ezetrol elsewhere) and the statin drug simvastatin (best known as Zocor in the U.S.). The combination preparation is marketed by Merck & Co./Schering-PloughPharmaceuticals (joint venture) under the trade names Vytorin and Inegy.

Ezetimibe reduces blood cholesterol by inhibiting absorption of cholesterol by the small intestine by acting at the brush border of the small intestine and inhibits the absorption of cholesterol, leading to a decrease in the delivery of intestinal cholesterol to the liver.

Simvastatin is an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor or statin. It works by blocking an enzymethat is necessary for the body to make cholesterol.

Even though ezetimibe decreases cholesterol levels, as of 2009 it has not been found to lead to improvement in real world outcomes.[1] The combination of simvastatin and ezetimibe has not been found to be any better than simvastatin alone. A panel of experts thus concluded in 2008 that it should “only be used as a last resort”.[2]

9 Blopress

Blopress (Takeda Pharmaceutical)
Patent expiry: June 2012

2012 sales: $1.643 billion
2011 sales: $1.808 billion
Change: (9%)

Blopress – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/blopress#ixzz2UAEnxyWy

Candesartan (rINN) (pron.: /ˌkændɨˈsɑrtən/) is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist used mainly for the treatment of hypertension. The prodrug candesartan cilexetil is marketed by AstraZeneca and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, commonly under the trade names Blopress,AtacandAmias, and Ratacand

As all angiotensin II receptor antagonists, candesartan is indicated for the treatment of hypertension. Results from the CHARM study in the early 2000s demonstrated the morbidity and mortality reduction benefits of candesartan therapy in congestive heart failure.[1] Thus, while ACE inhibitors are still considered first-line therapy in heart failure, candesartan can be used in combination with an ACE to achieve improved mortality and morbidity vs. an ACE alone and additionally is an alternative in patients intolerant of ACE inhibitor therapy.

Prehypertension

In a four-year randomized controlled trial, candesartan was compared to placebo to see whether it could prevent or postpone the development of full-blown hypertension in people with so-called prehypertension. During the first two years of the trial, half of participants were given candesartan, and the others received placebo; candesartan reduced the risk of developing hypertension by nearly two-thirds during this period. In the last two years of the study, all participants were switched to placebo. By the end of the study, candesartan hadsignificantly reduced the risk of hypertension, by more than 15%. Serious side effects were actually more common among participants receiving placebo than in those given candesartan.[2]

Candesartan is also available in a combination formulation with a low dose thiazide diuretic, invariably hydrochlorothiazide, to achieve an additive antihypertensive effect. Candesartan/hydrochlorothiazide combination preparations are marketed under various trade names including Atacand HCTHytacandBlopress Plus, Advantec and Ratacand Plus.

10 Tracleer

Tracleer (Actelion)
Patent expiry: November 2015   

2012 sales: $1.600 billion
2011 sales: $1.721 billion
Change: (7%)

Tracleer – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/tracleer#ixzz2UAF2iIJB 

Bosentan is a dual endothelin receptor antagonist used in the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). It is licensed in the United States, the European Union and other countries by Actelion Pharmaceuticals for the management of PAH under the trade name Tracleer.

Bosentan is a competitive antagonist of endothelin-1 at the endothelin-A (ET-A) and endothelin-B (ET-B) receptors. Under normal conditions, endothelin-1 binding of ET-A or ET-B receptors causes pulmonary vasoconstriction. By blocking this interaction, bosentan decreases pulmonary vascular resistance. Bosentan has a slightly higher affinity for ET-A than ET-B.

Clinical uses 

Bosentan is indicated mainly for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension. In 2007, bosentan was approved in the European Union also for reducing the number of new digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis and ongoing digital ulcer disease.

In the United States, bosentan is indicated for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (WHO Group I) in patients with WHO Class II-IV symptoms, to improve exercise capacity and decrease the rate of clinical worsening.[1]

http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/top-10-cardio-drugs-2012

For years, cardio was king. The world’s all-time best-selling drug, Pfizer’s ($PFELipitor, after all, is an antihyperlipidemic drug. Cardio drugs have traditionally made up one of the largest categories of therapeutic treatment in the drug universe.

According to EvaluatePharma‘s World Preview 2018 report, combined sales of antihypertensive drugs and antihyperlipidemics were more than $70 billion in 2011. That would put them at the top of the heap. Sales of antihypertensive drugs alone were more than $40 billion that year, making them the second-largest therapy area defined by the report, behind oncology drugs at $64.4 billion. The list, compiled by EvaluatePharma, includes the theraputic areas categorized as cardio, so it does not include some products sometimes used for heart disease but not in that therapeutic area, including blood thinners like Plavix.

But many of the top cardio drugs are long in the tooth, and generics are now eating their lunch. Did I mention Lipitor? Sales cratered last year, falling nearly 60%. Despite that, the drug placed third among the top 10 cardio drugs of 2012, a reminder of the stature it had achieved. Four of the top 10 have lost patent protection in the last two years, and most will be off patent by 2016, with only Merck’s ($MRKVytorin protected until 2017.

Last year, the top 10 cardio drugs racked up sales of $28.644 billion, down 23% from the $37.271 billion they sold in 2011. Still, the group has made a lot of money for its companies for years and, in some cases, completely changed the treatment of heart disease.

It is an interesting list. Only Merck has two drugs in the top 10. The other drugmakers make up a broad swath of the pharma industry. Read our report below, and if you have some insights you would like to share, please do.

Top 10 Cardio Drugs 2012 – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/top-10-cardio-drugs-2012#ixzz2UAByWR7s 

Part IV:

20 Highest-Paid Biopharma CEOs of 2012

Call it a rite of spring. Every year about this timeFiercePharma takes a look at executive compensation in the industry, and we rank the highest-paid CEOs. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll notice that this year’s list is longer than previous editions. And there’s a reason for that: curiosity.

As we were beginning to gather numbers from biopharma companies’ proxy statements and annual reports, news surfaced that Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($VRX) and Actavis ($ACT) had been in merger talks. The former CEO of Mylan ($MYL), one of Actavis’ rivals, regularly appeared on our highest-paid executives list, so we looked up the numbers on Actavis. No dice; CEO Paul Bisaro may have pulled off his biggest merger ever last year, but $8.66 million in compensation still didn’t qualify him for our ranking.

Then, we pulled out Valeant’s proxy statement. And while CEO Michael Pearson didn’t earn enough in 2012 to make the cutoff–his compensation just surpassed $6 million–he should have been at the top of the list last year. Pearson’s 2011 pay package broke $36 million. He collected more than $18 million in stock and option awards, plus a special $13.7 million dividend payment, stemming from agreements negotiated years before.

We hate to miss a scoop. Naturally. So, we vowed to avoid making the same mistake this time around. Rather than limit our executive-pay search to the biggest pharma companies and biotechs, plus the usual suspects who often make CEO-pay rankings, we used a bigger net. We collected compensation information from 50 companies, including numbers for CEOs, CFOs, R&D chiefs and other top executives.

Partly because of this search, but mostly because of big bonuses and awards at fast-growing Regeneron ($REGN), we have a brand-new No. 1 on our list. That’s Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer, whose 2012 compensation totaled $30.047 million. You’ll notice some other newbies, such as Leonard Bell from Alexion ($ALXN), whose pay bump put him in 12th place. And then there are familiar faces, such as Pfizer ($PFE) CEO Ian Read; Johnson & Johnson’s ($JNJ) former chairman and CEO, William Weldon; and Eli Lilly ($LLY) CEO John Lechleiter, who hung on in 10th place.

Many of the companies we researched pay their top people far less than the $10 million that served as our cutoff figure. Novo Nordisk ($NVO) CEO Lars Sorensen, who has presided over double-digit growth there for several years, collected a package of cash and stock awards worth about $5 million for 2012. GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) CEO Andrew Witty made less than $6 million himself; he took a pay cut for the year because of Glaxo’s shortfall on certain performance targets.

And then there are others who would have made the list, had their titles been different. There’s Regeneron R&D chief George Yancopoulos, whose extraordinary $81 million in compensation shows how much the company appreciates its newly minted blockbuster, Eylea. There’s Mylan Chairman Robert Coury, who used to be a fixture on our list until Heather Bresch took over as CEO; he made more than $28 million last year. Novartis’ ($NVS) former chairman Daniel Vasella could have qualified for 12th place with his $13.98 million in compensation.

Vasella, then, gives us a quick segue to the ongoing debate over executive pay. In Switzerland, populist dismay at some high-profile compensation figures led to a public vote earlier this year. Citizens voted in new restrictions on common bonuses, such as golden parachutes, and gave shareholders a binding vote on executive pay. And local analysts figure that late-breaking news of Vasella’s behind-the-scenes noncompete agreement–worth some $78 million over 5 years–helped pay activists to get out the vote. (Vasella ended up refusing the deal, by the way.)

In the U.S., where executives are paid more than anywhere else in the world, shareholders at some companies have successfully lobbied for a greater emphasis on performance pay and against extraordinary bonuses, such as change-in-control payments that send top executives on their way with tens of millions after a merger. Other companies have instituted “say-on-pay” advisory votes for shareholders, but those often end up as rubber stamps for the status quo.

Now, we’re interested in what you have to say about executive compensation. Are the CEOs on this list worth their price? What’s a supersuccessful new drug worth? Should CEO pay be docked for R&D failures? What about failed launches? Should other, lower-paid executives earn more? Tweet your opinions to @FiercePharma using the hashtag #FPexecpay, leave your comments below or email us. We’ll collect your thoughts in a future article.

As always, feel free to send us your thoughts on our coverage. And if we missed a well-paid CEO, be sure to let us know.

— Tracy Staton (email | Twitter)

For more:
Top 10 Biotech CEO Pay Packages of 2012
Top 10 Pharma CEO salaries of 2010
Top 10 Pharma CEO salaries of 2009
2012’s 10 highest-paid Med Tech CEOs
Top 10 Medical Device Industry CEO Salaries for 2011


20 Highest-Paid Biopharma CEOs of 2012 – FiercePharma http://www.fiercepharma.com/special-reports/20-highest-paid-biopharma-ceos-2012#ixzz2UAGAlHay 

REFERENCES FOR Part I: Arterial Stiffness

1. Laurent S, Boutouyrie P, Asmar R, Gautier I, Laloux B, Guize L,

Ducimetiere P, Benetos A. Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor

of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patients.

Hypertension. 2001;37:1236–1241.

2. Vlachopoulos C, Aznaouridis K, Stefanadis C. Prediction of cardiovascular

events and all-cause mortality with arterial stiffness: a systematic

review and meta-analysis. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;55:1318–1327.

3. Boutouyrie P, Tropeano AI, Asmar R, Gautier I, Benetos A, Lacolley P,

Laurent S. Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor of primary coronary

events in hypertensive patients: a longitudinal study. Hypertension.

2002;39:10–15.

4. Mattace-Raso FU, van der Cammen TJ, Hofman A, van Popele NM, Bos

ML, Schalekamp MA, Asmar R, Reneman RS, Hoeks AP, Breteler MM,

Witteman JC. Arterial stiffness and risk of coronary heart disease and

stroke: the Rotterdam Study. Circulation. 2006;113:657–663.

5. Sehestedt T, Jeppesen J, Hansen TW, Rasmussen S, Wachtell K, Ibsen H,

Torp-Pedersen C, Olsen MH. Risk stratification with the risk chart from

the European Society of Hypertension compared with SCORE in the general

population. J Hypertens. 2009;27:2351–2357.

6. Mitchell GF, Hwang SJ, Vasan RS, Larson MG, Pencina MJ,

Hamburg NM, Vita JA, Levy D, Benjamin EJ. Arterial stiffness and

cardiovascular events: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 2010;

121:505–511.

7. Gosse P, Cremer A, Papaioannou G, Yeim S. Arterial stiffness from monitoring

of timing of Korotkoff sounds predicts the occurrence of cardiovascular

events independently of left ventricular mass in hypertensive

patients. HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01039 Published online before print May 20, 2013,doi: 10.1161/​HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01039

Hypertension. 2013;62:XX–XX.

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01039.abstract.html?papetoc

8. Gosse P, Guillo P, Ascher G, Clementy J. Assessment of arterial distensibility

by monitoring the timing of Korotkoff sounds. Am J Hypertens.

1994;7:228–233.

9. Laurent S, Cockcroft J, Van Bortel L, Boutouyrie P, Giannattasio C,

Hayoz D, Pannier B, Vlachopoulos C, Wilkinson I, Struijker-Boudier

H; European Network for Non-invasive Investigation of Large Arteries.

Expert consensus document on arterial stiffness: methodological issues

and clinical applications. Eur Heart J. 2006;27:2588–2605.

10. Dogui A, Redheuil A, Lefort M, DeCesare A, Kachenoura N, Herment A,

Mousseaux E. Measurement of aortic arch pulse wave velocity in cardiovascular

MR: comparison of transit time estimators and description of a

new approach. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2011;33:1321–1329.

downloaded from

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01372.citation

REFERENCES for Part II: Clinical Trials of Hypertension Management

1. Hanselin MR , Saseen JJ , Allen RR , Marrs JC , Nair KV . Description of

antihypertensive use in patients with resistant hypertension prescribed

four or more agents. Hypertension . 2011 ; 58 : 1008 – 1013 .

2. Bakris GL , Lindholm LH , Black HR , Krum H , Linas S , Linseman JV ,

Arterburn S , Sager P , Weber M . Divergent results using clinic and ambulatory

blood pressures: report of a darusentan-resistant hypertension trial.

Hypertension . 2010 ; 56 : 824 – 830 .

3. Smithwick RH , Thompson JE . Splanchnicectomy for essential hypertension;

results in 1,266 cases. J Am Med Assoc . 1953 ; 152 : 1501 – 1504 .

4. Esler M , Ferrier C , Lambert G , Eisenhofer G , Cox H , Jennings G .

Biochemical evidence of sympathetic hyperactivity in human hypertension.

Hypertension . 1991 ; 17 ( 4 Suppl ): III29 – III35 .

5. Esler MD , Krum H , Sobotka PA , Schlaich MP , Schmieder RE , Bohm

M . Symplicity HTN-2 investigators. Renal sympathetic denervation in

patients with treatment-resistant hypertension: a randomized controlled

trial. Lancet 2010 ; 376 : 1903 – 1909 .

6. Brinkmann J , Heusser K , Schmidt BM , Menne J , Klein G , Bauersachs J ,

Haller H , Sweep FC , Diedrich A , Jordan J , Tank J . Catheter-based renal

nerve ablation and centrally generated sympathetic activity in diffi cultto-

control hypertensive patients: prospective case series. Hypertension .

2012 ; 60 : 1485 – 1490 .

7. Mahfoud F , Cremers B , Janker J , et al . Renal hemodynamics and renal

function after catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation in patients

with resistant hypertension. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 419 – 424 .

8. Lambert GW , Hering D , Esler MD , Marusic P , Lambert EA , Tanamas

SK , Shaw J , Krum H , Dixon JB , Barton DA , Schlaich MP . Health-related

quality of life after renal denervation in patients with treatment-resistant

hypertension. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 1479 – 1484 .

9. Daugherty SL , Powers JD , Magid DJ , Masoudi FA , Margolis KL ,

O ’ Connor PJ , Schmittdiel JA , Ho PM . The association between medication

adherence and treatment intensifi cation with blood pressure control

in resistant hypertension. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 303 – 309 .

10. Bobrie G , Frank M , Azizi M , Peyrard S , Boutouyrie P , Chatellier G ,

Laurent S , Menard J , Plouin PF . Sequential nephron blockade versus

sequential renin-angiotensin system blockade in resistant hypertension:

a prospective, randomized, open blinded endpoint study. J Hypertens .

2012 ; 30 : 1656 – 1664 .

11. Mancia G . Additional drug treatment in resistant hypertension: need for

randomized studies. J Hypertens . 2012 ; 30 : 1514 – 1515 .

12. Hermida RC , Ayala DE , Moj ó n A , Fontao MJ , Fern á ndez JR .

Chronotherapy with valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide combination in essential

hypertension: improved sleep-time blood pressure control with bedtime

dosing. Chronobiol Int . 2011 ; 28 : 601 – 610 .

13. Persu A , Renkin J , Thijs L , Staessen JA . Renal denervation: ultima

ratio or standard in treatment-resistant hypertension. Hypertension .

2012 ; 60 : 596 – 606 .

14. Lohmeier TE , Iliescu R . Chronic lowering of blood pressure by carotid

barorefl ex activation: mechanisms and potential for hypertension therapy.

Hypertension . 2011 ; 57 : 880 – 886 .

15. Bisognano JD , Bakris G , Nadim MK , Sanchez L , Kroon AA , Schafer J ,

de Leeuw PW , Sica DA . Barorefl ex activation therapy lowers blood pressure

in patients with resistant hypertension: results from the double-blind,

randomized, placebo-controlled rheos pivotal trial. J Am Coll Cardiol .

2011 ; 58 : 765 – 773 .

16. Parving HH , Brenner BM , McMurray JJ , de Zeeuw D , Haffner SM ,

Solomon SD , Chaturvedi N , Persson F , Desai AS , Nicolaides M , Richard

A , Xiang Z , Brunel P , Pfeffer MA ; ALTITUDE Investigators . Cardiorenal

end points in a trial of aliskiren for type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med .

2012 ; 367 : 2204 – 2213 .

17. The ONTARGET Investigators . Telmisartan, ramipril, or both in patients

at high risk for vascular events. N Engl J Med . 2008 ; 358 : 1547 – 1559 .

18. Mancia G , Parati G , Bilo G , et al . Ambulatory blood pressure values in

the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination with Ramipril Global

Endpoint Trial (ONTARGET). Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 1400 – 1406 .

19. Roush GC , Holford TR , Guddati AK . Chlorthalidone compared with

hydrochlorothiazide in reducing cardiovascular events: systematic review

and network meta-analyses. Hypertension . 2012 ; 59 : 1110 – 1117 .

20. Cushman WC , Bakris GL , White WB , Weber MA , Sica D , Roberts A ,

Lloyd E , Kupfer S . Azilsartan medoxomil plus chlorthalidone reduces

blood pressure more effectively than olmesartan plus hydrochlorothiazide

in stage 2 systolic hypertension. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 310 – 318 .

21. Alderman MH , Piller LB , Ford CE , Probstfi eld JL , Oparil S , Cushman WC ,

Einhorn PT , Franklin SS , Papademetriou V , Ong ST , Eckfeldt JH , Furberg

CD , Calhoun DA , Davis BR ; Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering

Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial Collaborative Research Group .

Clinical signifi cance of incident hypokalemia and hyperkalemia in treated

hypertensive patients in the antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment

to prevent heart attack trial. Hypertension . 2012 ; 59 : 926 – 933 .

22. Kostis WJ , Thijs L , Richart T , Kostis JB , Staessen JA . Persistence of mortality

reduction after the end of randomized therapy in clinical trials of

blood pressure-lowering medications. Hypertension . 2010 ; 56 : 1060 – 1068 .

23. van Onzenoort HA , Menger FE , Neef C , Verberk WJ , Kroon AA , de

Leeuw PW , van der Kuy PH . Participation in a clinical trial enhances

adherence and persistence to treatment: a retrospective cohort study.

Hypertension . 2011 ; 58 : 573 – 578 .

24. Sever PS . The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial: implications

and further outcomes. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 248 – 259 .

25. Larstorp AC , Ariansen I , Gjesdal K , Olsen MH , Ibsen H , Devereux RB ,

Okin PM , Dahl ö f B , Kjeldsen SE , Wachtell K . Association of pulse pressure

with new-onset atrial fi brillation in patients with hypertension and

left ventricular hypertrophy: the Losartan Intervention For Endpoint

(LIFE) reduction in hypertension study. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 347 – 353 .

26. Rossignol P , Cridlig J , Lehert P , Kessler M , Zannad F . Visit-to-visit blood

pressure variability is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events in hemodialysis:

insights from FOSIDIAL. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 339 – 346 .

27. Matsui Y , O ’ Rourke MF , Hoshide S , Ishikawa J , Shimada K , Kario

K . Combined Effect of Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker and Either a

Calcium Channel Blocker or Diuretic on Day-by-Day Variability of Home

Blood Pressure: The Japan Combined Treatment With Olmesartan and a

Calcium-Channel Blocker Versus Olmesartan and Diuretics Randomized

Effi cacy Study. Hypertension . 2012 ; 59 : 1132 – 1138 .

28. Jennings GL , Sudhir K . Initial therapy of primary hypertension. Med J

Aust . 1990 ; 152 : 198 – 203 .

29. Egan BM , Bandyopadhyay D , Shaftman SR , Wagner CS , Zhao Y ,

Yu-Isenberg KS . Initial monotherapy and combination therapy and hypertension

control the fi rst year. Hypertension . 2012 ; 59 : 1124 – 1131 .

30. Bavry AA , Pepine CJ . Treatment of hypertension: lower is better, or is it?

Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 281 – 282 .

31. Mizuno R , Fujimoto S , Saito Y , Okamoto Y . Optimal antihypertensive

level for improvement of coronary microvascular dysfunction: the lower,

the better? Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 326 – 332 .

32. Roman MJ , Howard BV , Howard WJ , Mete M , Fleg JL , Lee ET ,

Devereux RB . Differential impacts of blood pressure and lipid lowering

on regression of ventricular and arterial mass: the Stop Atherosclerosis in

Native Diabetics Trial. Hypertension . 2011 ; 58 : 367 – 371 .

33. Bertoia ML , Waring ME , Gupta PS , Roberts MB , Eaton CB . Implications

of new hypertension guidelines in the United States. Hypertension .

2012 ; 60 : 639 – 644 .

34. Stewart S , Carrington MJ , Swemmer CH , et al .; VIPER-BP Study

Investigators . Effect of intensive structured care on individual blood pressure

targets in primary care: multicentre randomised controlled trial. BMJ .

2012 ; 345 : e7156 .

35. Dickinson BD , Havas S ; Council on Science and Public Health, American

Medical Association . Reducing the population burden of cardiovascular

disease by reducing sodium intake: a report of the Council on Science and

Public Health. Arch Intern Med . 2007 ; 167 : 1460 – 1468 .

36. O ’ Donnell MJ , Yusuf S , Mente A , Gao P , Mann JF , Teo K , McQueen M ,

Sleight P , Sharma AM , Dans A , Probstfi eld J , Schmieder RE . Urinary

sodium and potassium excretion and risk of cardiovascular events. JAMA .

2011 ; 306 : 2229 – 2238 .

37. Hummel SL , Seymour EM , Brook RD , Kolias TJ , Sheth SS , Rosenblum

HR , Wells JM , Weder AB . Low-sodium dietary approaches to stop

hypertension diet reduces blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and oxidative

stress in hypertensive heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 1200 – 1206 .

38. Soedamah-Muthu SS , Verberne LD , Ding EL , Engberink MF , Geleijnse JM .

Dairy consumption and incidence of hypertension: a dose-response metaanalysis

of prospective cohort studies. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 1131 – 1137 .

39. West SG , Gebauer SK , Kay CD , Bagshaw DM , Savastano DM ,

Diefenbach C , Kris-Etherton PM . Diets containing pistachios reduce systolic

blood pressure and peripheral vascular responses to stress in adults

with dyslipidemia. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 58 – 63 .

40. Zhang X , Qi Q , Liang J , Hu FB , Sacks FM , Qi L . Neuropeptide Y promoter

polymorphism modifi es effects of a weight-loss diet on 2-year

changes of blood pressure: the preventing overweight using novel dietary

strategies trial. Hypertension . 2012 ; 60 : 1169 – 1175 .

41. Meredith IT , Friberg P , Jennings GL , Dewar EM , Fazio VA , Lambert GW ,

Esler MD . Exercise training lowers resting renal but not cardiac sympathetic

activity in humans. Hypertension . 1991 ; 18 : 575 – 582 .

42. Cornelissen VA , Fagard RH , Coeckelberghs E , Vanhees L . Impact of resistance

training on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors: a metaanalysis

of randomized, controlled trials. Hypertension . 2011 ; 58 : 950 – 958 .

Downloaded from

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00863.citation

RELATED SOURCES:

Aortic pulse pressure is associated with the localization of coronary artery disease based on coronary flow lateralization. American journal of hypertension, 25(10), 1055-1063.

  1. Georges Khoueiry1,
  2. Basem Azab2,
  3. Estelle Torbey2,
  4. Nidal Abi Rafeh1,
  5. Jean-Paul Atallah2,
  6. Kathleen Ahern2,
  7. James Malpeso1,
  8. Donald McCord1 and
  9. Elie R. Chemaly3

Author Affiliations


  1. 1Department of Cardiology, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, New York, USA

  2. 2Department of Internal Medicine, Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, New York, USA

  3. 3Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

Elie R. Chemaly (elie.chemaly@mssm.edu)

Abstract

Background Aortic pulse pressure (APP) is related to arterial stiffness and associated with the presence and extent of coronary artery disease (CAD). Besides, the left coronary artery (LCA) has a predominantly diastolic flow while the right coronary artery (RCA) receives systolic and diastolic flow. Thus, we hypothesized that increased systolic–diastolic pressure difference had a greater atherogenic effect on the RCA than on the LCA.

Methods A random sample of 433 CAD patients (145 females, 288 males, mean age 65.0 ± 11.1 years) undergoing coronary angiography at Staten Island University Hospital between January 2005 and May 2008 was studied. Coronary lesion was defined as a ≥50% luminal stenosis. Patients were divided into three groups, with isolated LCA lesions (n = 154), isolated RCA lesions (n = 36) or mixed LCA and RCA lesions (n = 243).

Results APP differed significantly between groups, being highest when the RCA alone was affected (67.6 ± 20.3 mm Hg for LCA vs. 78.8 ± 22.0 for RCA vs. 72.7 ± 22.6 for mixed, P = 0.008 for analysis of variance (ANOVA)). Age and gender were not associated with CAD location. Heart rate was associated with CAD location, lowest in RCA group, and negatively correlated with APP. However, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was lower in the mixed CAD group and positively correlated with APP. The association between APP and right-sided CAD persisted in multivariate logistic regression adjusting for confounders, including heart rate, LVEF and medication use. A similar but less significant pattern was seen with brachial arterial pressures.

Conclusions Aortic pulse pressure may affect CAD along with coronary flow phasic patterns.

American Journal of Hypertension, advance online publication 28 June 2012; doi:10.1038/ajh.2012.87

The Relationship Between Diastolic Pressure and Coronary Collateral Circulation in Patients With Stable Angina Pectoris and Chronic Total OcclusionAm J Hypertens (2013)doi: 10.1093/ajh/hps096 

First published online: February 7, 2013

  1. Wang Shu1,
  2. Jing jing1,
  3. Liu Chang Fu1,
  4. Jiang Tie Min2,
  5. Yang Xiao Bo1,
  6. Zhou Ying1and
  7. Chen Yun Dai1,*
  1. 1 The Cardiovascular Medical Department of the General Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China;

  2. 2 The Cardiovascular Medical Department of the Affiliated Hospital of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Logistics College, Tianjin, China.
  1. Correspondence: Chen Yun Dai (chenyundai2002@163.com).

Abstract

BACKGROUND The most important biomechanical source of activation of the coronary collateral circulation (CCC) is increased tangential fluid shear stress at the arterial endothelial surface. The coronary circulation is unique in that most coronary blood flow occurs in diastole. Consequently, the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) may influence the tangential fluid shear stress on the arterial endothelial surface in diastole, therebyaffecting development of the CCC.

METHODS To investigate this, we conducted a study of 222 patients with stable angina pectoris and chronic total occlusion of coronary arteries. All of the patients had no history of coronary artery interventional therapy, coronary artery bypass surgery, cardiomyopathy, or congenital heart disease. The extent of the collateral vasculature of the area perfused by the artery affected by chronic total occlusion was graded as poor or well-developed according to Rentrop’s classification.

RESULTS Univariate analysis showed a significant difference between the study subgroup with poorly developed collaterals and that with well-developed collaterals in terms of high diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean DBP. Multivariate analysis revealed high DBP as the only independent positive predictor of a well-developed collateral circulation.

CONCLUSIONS High DBP is positively related to a well-developed CCC. Differences in development of the CCC may be one of the pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for the J-curve phenomenon in the relationship between DBP and cardiovascular risk.

http://ajh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/02/06/ajh.hps096.abstract

Other related articles that were published on this Open Access Online Scientific Journal, include the following:

Synthetic Biology: On Advanced Genome Interpretation for Gene Variants and Pathways: What is the Genetic Base of Atherosclerosis and Loss of Arterial Elasticity with Aging

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN May 17, 2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/17/synthetic-biology-on-advanced-genome-interpretation-for-gene-variants-and-pathways-what-is-the-genetic-base-of-atherosclerosis-and-loss-of-arterial-elasticity-with-aging/

Artherogenesis: Predictor of CVD – the Smaller and Denser LDL Particles

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 11/15/2012

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/11/15/artherogenesis-predictor-of-cvd-the-smaller-and-denser-ldl-particles/

Cardiovascular Diseases: Causes, Risks and Management, Volume Two, Risks of Cardiovascular Diseases

Justin D. Pearlman MD ME PhD MA FACC, Editor

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/biomed-e-books/cardiovascular-diseases-risks-and-management/cvd-2-risk-assessment-of-cardiovascular-diseases/

Genetics of Conduction Disease: Atrioventricular (AV) Conduction Disease (block): Gene Mutations – Transcription, Excitability, and Energy Homeostasis

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 4/28/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/28/genetics-of-conduction-disease-atrioventricular-av-conduction-disease-block-gene-mutations-transcription-excitability-and-energy-homeostasis/

Genomics & Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease Diagnoses: A Literature Survey of AHA’s Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics, 3/2010 – 3/2013

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN and Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP 3/7/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/03/07/genomics-genetics-of-cardiovascular-disease-diagnoses-a-literature-survey-of-ahas-circulation-cardiovascular-genetics-32010-32013/

Hypertriglyceridemia concurrent Hyperlipidemia: Vertical Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation a Better Test to Prevent Undertreatment of High-Risk Cardiac Patients

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 4/4/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/04/hypertriglyceridemia-concurrent-hyperlipidemia-vertical-density-gradient-ultracentrifugation-a-better-test-to-prevent-undertreatment-of-high-risk-cardiac-patients/

Hypertension and Vascular Compliance: 2013 Thought Frontier – An Arterial Elasticity Focus

Justin D. Pearlman, MD, PhD and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN 5/11/2013

http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/05/11/arterial-elasticity-in-quest-for-a-drug-stabilizer-isolated-systolic-hypertension-caused-by-arterial-stiffening-ineffectively-treated-by-vasodilatation-antihypertensives/

Read Full Post »

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

 

  • Original Article

HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00859 Published online before print May 20, 2013,doi: 10.1161/​HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00859

Serum Uric Acid Level, Longitudinal Blood Pressure, Renal Function, and Long-Term Mortality in Treated Hypertensive Patients
  1. Jesse Dawson,
  2. Panniyammakal Jeemon,
  3. Lucy Hetherington,
  4. Caitlin Judd,
  5. Claire Hastie,
  6. Christin Schulz,
  7. William Sloan,
  8. Scott Muir,
  9. Alan Jardine,
  10. Gordon McInnes,
  11. David Morrison,
  12. Anna Dominiczak,
  13. Sandosh Padmanabhan,
  14. Matthew Walters

+Author Affiliations


  1. From the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences (J.D., P.J., L.H., C.J., C.H., C.S., S.M., A.J., G.M., A.D., S.P., M.W.), West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit (W.S., D.M.), College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
  1. Correspondence to Matthew Walters, Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, Western Infirmary, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 6NT, United Kingdom. E-mail matthew.walters@glasgow.ac.uk; or Sandosh Padmanabhan, BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, 126 University Pl, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, United Kingdom. E-mail Sandosh.padmanabhan@glasgow.ac.uk

Abstract

Uric acid may have a role in the development of hypertension and renal dysfunction. We explored the relationship among longitudinal blood pressure, renal function, and cardiovascular outcomes in a large cohort of patients with treated hypertension. We used data from the Glasgow Blood Pressure Clinic database. Patients with a baseline measure of serum uric acid and longitudinal measures of blood pressure and renal function were included. Mortality data were obtained from the General Register Office for Scotland. Generalized estimating equations were used to explore the relationship among quartiles of serum uric acid, blood pressure, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Cox proportional hazard models were developed to assess mortality relationships. In total, 6984 patients were included. Serum uric acid level did not influence the longitudinal changes in systolic or diastolic blood pressure but was related to change in glomerular filtration rate. In comparison with patients in the first quartile of serum uric acid, the relative decrease in glomerular filtration rate in the fourth was 10.7 (95% confidence interval, 7.9–13.6 mL/min per 1.73 m2) in men and 12.2 (95% confidence interval, 9.2–15.2 mL/min per 1.73 m2) in women. All-cause and cardiovascular mortality differed across quartiles of serum uric acid in women only (P<0.001; hazard ratios for all-cause mortality 1.38 [95% confidence interval, 1.14–1.67] for the fourth quartile of serum uric acid compared with the first). Serum uric acid level was not associated with longitudinal blood pressure control in adults with treated hypertension but was related to decline in renal function and mortality in women.

Key Words:

  • Received February 19, 2013.
  • Revision received April 23, 2013.
  • Accepted April 23, 2013.

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/05/20/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.00859.abstract.html?papetoc

 

Read Full Post »

iElastance: Calculates Ventricular Elastance, Arterial Elastance and Ventricular-Arterial Coupling using Echocardiographic derived values in a single beat determination

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

 

unnamed

unnamed-1unnamed-2

First iElastance release for Android!

iElastance is an application designed for calculate Ventricular Elastance, Arterial Elastance and Ventricular-Arterial Coupling using Echocardiographic derived values in a single beat determination.
This application is extremely useful to a variety of health care givers such as Cardiologists, Intensivists, Anesthesiologist and more who want to calculate ventricular arterial coupling even in the Critical Care setting and, above all, bedside.

The variables needed for the calculator to work are:

Systolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
Diastolic Blood Pressure (mmHg)
Stroke Volume (ml)
Ejection Fraction (0-1)
Total Ejection Time (msec)
Pre Ejection Time (msec)

Formulas are validated and extracted from the article by Chen CH et Al J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001 Dec;38(7):2028-34.

DISCLAIMER: The calculator provided is not meant to be a substitute for professional advice and is not to be used for medical diagnosis. Extensive effort has been exerted to make this software as accurate as possible; however the accuracy of information provided by this software cannot be guaranteed. Health care professionals should use clinical judjement and individualize therapy to each patient care situation.

All rights reserved – 2013 Pietro Bertini – Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine – University Hospital of Pisa – Dr. Fabio Guarracino, Head of Department

FULL NETWORK ACCESS
Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.iElastance

 

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »