A Report From the American Society of Hypertension 28th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exposition (May 15-18, 2013 – San Francisco, California, U.S.A.).

A report from the American Society of Hypertension 28th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exposition (May 15-18, 2013 – San Francisco, California, U.S.A.).

Drugs Today (Barc). 2013 Jul; 49(7): 463-70
Rabasseda X

A wide selection of antihypertensive drugs are currently available for managing hypertension, with distinct advantages and disadvantages in selected patient populations. However, many patients require combination approaches for effective control of blood pressure, and new drugs are required for reaching target blood pressure values in difficult-to-treat subjects. Indeed, initial use of combination therapies more effectively lowered blood pressure, resulting in a further decreased risk of stroke compared to antihypertensive monotherapy (Yu, J. et al., Abst PO-13). Nevertheless, novel drugs and new fixed-drug combinations are being developed, as reported in the following report from this year’s American Society of Hypertension meeting. As exemplified by a comparison of newer versus older antihypertensive drugs in Sub-Saharan African countries that demonstrated the superiority of valsartan/amlodipine versus bisoprolol/hydrochlorothiazide (M’Buyamba-Kabangu, J.R. et al., Abst PO-86), newer drugs are beating the efficacy of older agents, and drugs currently in development may eventually demonstrate greater benefits that drugs considered new today. Research continues, as the morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension is better recognized as a threat in aging populations worldwide. HubMed – drug

Facile Synthesis of PEGylated PLGA Nanoparticles Encapsulating Doxorubicin and its In Vitro Evaluation as Potent Drug Delivery Vehicle.

Drug Deliv Transl Res. 2013 Aug 1; 3(4): 299-308
Kumar R, Kulkarni A, Nabulsi J, Nagesha DK, Cormack R, Makrigiorgos MG, Sridhar S

The advent of nanotechnology has bolstered a variety of nanoparticles based platforms for different biomedical applications. A better understanding for engineering novel nanoparticles for applications in cancer staging and therapy requires careful assessment of the nanoparticle’s physico-chemical properties. Herein we report a facile synthesis method for PEGylated PLGA nanoparticles encapsulating anti-cancer drug doxorubicin for cancer imaging and therapy. The simple nanoprecipitation method reported here resulted in very robust PEGylated PLGA nanoparticles with close to 95% drug encapsulation efficiency. The nanoparticles showed a size of ~110 nm as characterized by TEM and DLS. The nanoparticles were further characterized by optical UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. The encapsulated doxorubicin showed a sustained release (>80%) from the nanoparticles matrix over a period of 8 days. The drug delivery efficiency of the nanoparticles was confirmed in vitro confocal imaging with PC3 and HeLa cell lines. In vitro quantitative estimation of drug accumulation in PC3 cell line showed a 22 times higher concentration of drug in case of nanoparticles based formulation in comparison to free drug and this was further reflected in the in vitro cytotoxicity assays. Overall the synthesis method reported here provides a simple and robust PLGA based platform for efficient drug delivery and imaging of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. HubMed – drug

Cancer Stem Cells: A Moving Target.

Curr Pathobiol Rep. 2013 Jun 1; 1(2): 111-118
Francipane MG, Chandler J, Lagasse E

Even though the number of anti-cancer drugs entering clinical trials and approved by the FDA has increased in recent years, many cancer patients still experience poor survival outcome. The main explanation for such a dismal prognosis is that current therapies might leave behind a population of cancer cells with the capacity for long-term self-renewal, so-called cancer stem cells (CSCs), from which most tumors are believed to be derived and fueled. CSCs might favor local and distant recurrence even many years after initial treatment, thus representing a potential target for therapies aimed at improving clinical outcome. In this review, we will address the CSC hypothesis with a particular emphasis on its current paradigms and debates, and discuss several mechanisms of CSC resistance to conventional therapies. HubMed – drug

Current Status of Drug-Eluting Stents and Drug-Eluting Balloons for the Superficial Femoral Artery.

Curr Surg Rep. 2013 Jun 1; 1(2): 90-97
Walker JP, Owens CD

The endovascular management of symptomatic atherosclerotic superficial femoral artery disease is challenging and requires consideration of unique anatomic, hemodynamic, and biomechanical factors. For innovative local drug delivery technologies to have a cost-effective and clinically meaningful benefit, they must provide patency rates in more complex lesions equivalent or superior to those currently approved devices are able to provide. Several proof-of-concept trials have either been published or been recently presented and many more are in the pipeline suggesting biologic effectiveness of these hybrid devices in reducing restenosis. Local drug delivery technology has already been commercially introduced in some countries for a variety of clinical settings. However, although these technologies offer promise in improving outcomes following lower extremity intervention, caution and safety are paramount. Adequately powered, multicenter, well-designed, randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up (3-5 years) are still needed to accurately assess safety and efficacy. HubMed – drug