Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: A Mathematical Model for Thermosensitive Liposomal Delivery of Doxorubicin to Solid Tumour.

A mathematical model for thermosensitive liposomal delivery of Doxorubicin to solid tumour.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

J Drug Deliv. 2013; 2013: 172529
Zhan W, Xu XY

The effectiveness of anticancer treatments is often hampered by the serious side effects owing to toxicity of anticancer drugs and their undesirable uptake by healthy cells in vivo. Thermosensitive liposome-mediated drug delivery has been developed as part of research efforts aimed at improving therapeutic efficacy while reducing the associated side effect. Since multiple steps are involved in the transport of drug-loaded liposomes, drug release, and its uptake, mathematical models become an indispensible tool to analyse the transport processes and predict the outcome of anticancer treatment. In this study, a computational model is developed which incorporates the key physical and biochemical processes involved in drug delivery and cellular uptake. The model has been applied to idealized tumour geometry, and comparisons are made between continuous infusion of doxorubicin and thermosensitive liposome-mediated delivery. Results show that thermosensitive liposome-mediated delivery performs better in reducing drug concentration in normal tissues, which may help lower the risk of associated side effects. Compared with direct infusion over a 2-hour period, thermosensitive liposome delivery leads to a much higher peak intracellular concentration of doxorubicin, which may increase cell killing in tumour thereby enhancing the therapeutic effect of the drug.
HubMed – drug

 

Protein target quantification decision tree.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Int J Proteomics. 2013; 2013: 701247
Kim JW, You J

The utility of mass spectrometry-(MS-) based proteomic platforms and their clinical applications have become an emerging field in proteomics in recent years. Owing to its selectivity and sensitivity, MS has become a key technological platform in proteomic research. Using this platform, a large number of potential biomarker candidates for specific diseases have been reported. However, due to lack of validation, none has been approved for use in clinical settings by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Successful candidate verification and validation will facilitate the development of potential biomarkers, leading to better strategies for disease diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment. With the recent new developments in mass spectrometers, high sensitivity, high resolution, and high mass accuracy can be achieved. This greatly enhances the capabilities of protein biomarker validation. In this paper, we describe and discuss recent developments and applications of targeted proteomics methods for biomarker validation.
HubMed – drug

 

Multiple sclerosis and the blood-central nervous system barrier.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Cardiovasc Psychiatry Neurol. 2013; 2013: 530356
Palmer AM

The central nervous system (CNS) is isolated from the blood system by a physical barrier that contains efflux transporters and catabolic enzymes. This blood-CNS barrier (BCNSB) plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). It binds and anchors activated leukocytes to permit their movement across the BCNSB and into the CNS. Once there, these immune cells target particular self-epitopes and initiate a cascade of neuroinflammation, which leads to the breakdown of the BCNSB and the formation of perivascular plaques, one of the hallmarks of MS. Immunomodulatory drugs for MS are either biologics or small molecules, with only the latter having the capacity to cross the BCNSB and thus have a propensity to cause CNS side effects. However, BCNSB penetration is a desirable feature of MS drugs that have molecular targets within the CNS. These are nabiximols and dalfampridine, which target cannabinoid receptors and potassium channels, respectively. Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, present on endothelial cells of the BCNSB, also serves as a drug discovery target since it interacts with ?4-?1-integrin on leucocytes. The MS drug natalizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against ?4-?1-integrin, blocks this interaction and thus reduces the movement of immune cells into the CNS. This paper further elaborates on the role of the BCNSB in the pathophysiology and pharmacotherapy of MS.
HubMed – drug

 

Improved Reconstruction Quality of Bioluminescent Images by Combining SP(3) Equations and Bregman Iteration Method.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Comput Math Methods Med. 2013; 2013: 767296
Wu Q, Feng J, Jia K, Wang X

Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) has a great potential to provide a powerful tool for tumor detection, monitoring tumor therapy progress, and drug development; developing new reconstruction algorithms will advance the technique to practical applications. In the paper, we propose a BLT reconstruction algorithm by combining SP(3) equations and Bregman iteration method to improve the quality of reconstructed sources. The numerical results for homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms are very encouraging and give significant improvement over the algorithms without the use of SP(3) equations and Bregman iteration method.
HubMed – drug

 

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