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Autoimmunity Reviews Jun 2016Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TA) are large vessel vasculitis (LVV) and aortic involvement is not uncommon in Behcet's disease (BD) and relapsing... (Review)
Review
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TA) are large vessel vasculitis (LVV) and aortic involvement is not uncommon in Behcet's disease (BD) and relapsing polychondritis (RP). Glucocorticosteroids are the mainstay of therapy in LVV. However, a significant proportion of patients have glucocorticoid dependance, serious side effects or refractory disease to steroids and other immunosuppressive treatments such as cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil and methotrexate. Recent advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis have resulted in the use of biological agents in patients with LVV. Anti-tumor necrosis factor-α drugs seem effective in patients with refractory Takayasu arteritis and vascular BD but have failed to do so in giant cell arteritis. Preliminary reports on the use of the anti-IL6-receptor antibody (tocilizumab), in LVV have been encouraging. The development of new biologic targeted therapies will probably open a promising future for patients with LVV.
Topics: Behcet Syndrome; Biological Therapy; Giant Cell Arteritis; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Polychondritis, Relapsing; Takayasu Arteritis
PubMed: 26883459
DOI: 10.1016/j.autrev.2016.02.012 -
Current Rheumatology Reports Dec 2013Biological therapy is a thriving area of research and development, and is well established for chronic forms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis... (Review)
Review
Biological therapy is a thriving area of research and development, and is well established for chronic forms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, there is no clinically validated biological therapy for osteoarthritis (OA). Chronic forms of OA are increasingly viewed as an inflammatory disease. OA was largely regarded as a "wear and tear disease". However, the disease is now believed to involve "low grade" inflammation and the growth of blood vessels and nerves from the subchondral bone into articular cartilage. This realization has focused research effort on the development and evaluation of biological therapy that targets proinflammatory mediators, angiogenic factors and cytokines in articular cartilage, subchondral bone and synovium in chronic forms of OA. This review article provides an overview of emerging biological therapy for OA, and discusses recent molecular targets implicated in angiogenesis and neurogenesis and progress with antibody-based therapy, calcitonin, and kartogenin, the small molecule stimulator of chondrogenesis.
Topics: Angiogenesis Inhibitors; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Biological Therapy; Calcitonin; Humans; Inflammation Mediators; Neurogenesis; Osteoarthritis; Osteoarthritis, Knee
PubMed: 24170255
DOI: 10.1007/s11926-013-0385-4 -
Acta Bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis Jun 2022Background and aim It is still unclear whether patients with severe asthma are at greater risk of developing severe COVID-19, particularly pediatric allergic patients...
Background and aim It is still unclear whether patients with severe asthma are at greater risk of developing severe COVID-19, particularly pediatric allergic patients under biologic therapy. Studies targeting pediatric patients are currently limited; thus, this study aims to assess the clinical characteristics of young patients with severe asthma under biological therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We collected data from February 2020 to April 2021. Patients with severe asthma treated with biological therapies (omalizumab and mepolizumab) have been enrolled. We described demographic data, clinical features, therapies, comorbidities, and laboratory findings for each patient. For patients who got COVID-19, we also described the severity of the disease, the need for hospitalization, and specific therapy. Results A total of 14 patients were included in the study, 11 (78.6%) of them under treatment with omalizumab and 3 (21.6%) with mepolizumab. We identified four patients (28.6%) who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Two patients treated with mepolizumab had an asymptomatic disease, and two patients treated with omalizumab had mild disease. Only one patient with mild COVID-19 required hospitalization and specific therapy because of severe obesity. Conclusions No differences regarding the SARS-CoV-2 infection have been found between the two treatments groups. Furthermore, any poor outcome has been observed, confirming the safety of biological therapies. The limited number of patients enrolled and the lack of a control group did not establish a significant risk for infections for these patients.
Topics: Adolescent; Anti-Asthmatic Agents; Asthma; Biological Therapy; COVID-19; Child; Humans; Omalizumab; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 35666117
DOI: 10.23750/abm.v93iS3.13073 -
Theranostics 2021Various living organisms have proven to influence human health significantly, either in a commensal or pathogenic manner. Harnessing the creatures may remarkably improve... (Review)
Review
Various living organisms have proven to influence human health significantly, either in a commensal or pathogenic manner. Harnessing the creatures may remarkably improve human healthcare and cure the intractable illness that is challenged using traditional drugs or surgical approaches. However, issues including limited biocompatibility, poor biosafety, inconvenience for personal handling, and low patient compliance greatly hinder the biomedical and clinical applications of living organisms when adopting them for disease treatment. Microneedle arrays (MNAs), emerging as a promising candidate of biomedical devices with the functional diversity and minimal invasion, have exhibited great potential in the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases, which is expected to improve organism-based therapies. In this review, we systemically summarize the technologies employed for the integration of MNAs with specific living organisms including diverse viruses, bacteria, mammal cells and so on. Moreover, their applications such as vaccination, anti-infection, tumor therapy and tissue repairing are well illustrated. Challenges faced by current strategies, and the perspectives of integrating more living organisms, adopting smarter materials, and developing more advanced technologies in MNAs for future personalized and point-of-care medicine, are also discussed. It is believed that the combination of living organisms with functional MNAs would hold great promise in the near future due to the advantages of both biological and artificial species.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Bacteria; Biological Therapy; Cells; Drug Delivery Systems; Immunotherapy; Needles; Skin; Vaccination; Viruses
PubMed: 34815801
DOI: 10.7150/thno.66478 -
Cell Host & Microbe Jul 2019The global challenges presented by drug-resistant bacterial infections have stimulated much activity in finding new treatments. This review summarizes the progress and... (Review)
Review
The global challenges presented by drug-resistant bacterial infections have stimulated much activity in finding new treatments. This review summarizes the progress and setbacks of non-traditional approaches intent on circumventing bacterial drug resistance. These approaches include targeting virulence via toxin production and virulence factor secretion, impeding bacterial adhesion to host cells and biofilm formation, interrupting or inhibiting bacterial communication, and downregulating virulence. Other strategies include immune evasion, microbiome-modifying therapies, and the employment of phages as treatments or carriers. Finally, the prospects of nanoparticles, immunotherapy, antisense RNA, and drug-resistance-modulation approaches are discussed. The development of non-traditional treatments suffers similar challenges faced by developers of conventional antibiotics; however, most of these new strategies have additional and considerable hurdles before it can be shown that they are safe and efficacious for patient use. For the foreseeable future, it is likely that most of these treatments, if approved, will be used in combination with antibiotics.
Topics: Bacterial Infections; Biological Therapy; Drug Therapy; Humans
PubMed: 31295426
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2019.06.004 -
Gerontology 2019Osteoarthritis (OA) is designated the 11th highest contributor of 291 diseases of global disability and the most common cause of chronic disability in elderly people. OA... (Review)
Review
Osteoarthritis (OA) is designated the 11th highest contributor of 291 diseases of global disability and the most common cause of chronic disability in elderly people. OA has a devastating impact on quality of life and represents an enormous socio-economic burden. Currently, OA is incurable, and no approved medications, biological therapy, or procedure prevents the progressive destruction of the osteoarthritic knee joint. All current treatments provide symptomatic relief rather than preventative or regenerative results. There is an urgent and compelling need to find, validate, and test new biological therapeutics. Cell-based therapies involving the delivery of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to the os-teoarthritic knee joint have emerged as a potential solution to overcome this clinical shortcoming. In this review, we address the clinical evidence, challenges, and recent advances surrounding MSC treatment in knee OA.
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; Female; Geriatrics; Humans; Male; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; Osteoarthritis, Knee; Regenerative Medicine
PubMed: 30897578
DOI: 10.1159/000496605 -
Respiratory Medicine Aug 2014Biologic therapies are widely used in inflammatory diseases, and they are associated to an increased infection risk, especially to granulomatous and intracellular... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Biologic therapies are widely used in inflammatory diseases, and they are associated to an increased infection risk, especially to granulomatous and intracellular infections such as Legionella.
RESULTS
A review of the literature revealed 105 cases of Legionella pneumonia in patients taking biologic therapies. Sixty-four patients (65.3%) were treated with infliximab, 23 (23.5%) with adalimumab, 5 (5%) with etanercept and 3 (3%) with rituximab. Seventy-one per cent of the patients were treated for rheumatologic diseases and 16% for inflammatory bowel diseases. The majority of the patients received one or more concomitant immunosuppressive drugs, especially steroids (43%). Overall mortality was 19%. Legionella pneumonia might complicate therapy with biologic therapies, especially in patients being treated with infliximab or adalimumab given concomitantly with other immunosuppressive medications during their first 6 months of treatment.
CONCLUSION
Physicians should be aware of this potentially severe association. Early recognition and treatment would likely result in reduced morbidity and mortality.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Biological Factors; Biological Therapy; Female; Humans; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Legionellosis; Male; Middle Aged; Rheumatic Diseases
PubMed: 24975288
DOI: 10.1016/j.rmed.2014.04.017 -
Journal of Cancer Research and... 2018Side effects associated with conventional anticancer therapies have prompted the new idea of solid tumor treatment strategy. One of them is using bacteria explored as... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Side effects associated with conventional anticancer therapies have prompted the new idea of solid tumor treatment strategy. One of them is using bacteria explored as potential antitumor agents over more than one century. Notably, the ideal therapy is a specifical target to tumors with limited toxicity. Here, we take "Clostridium novyi" for the search keyword in the PubMed from 2000 to 2015 and describe that C. novyi-NT spores act as "Trojan horse" for bacteriolytic therapy. This therapy is based on the fact that the live and attenuated obligate anaerobic bacteria are capable of binary fission selectively in anoxic areas of solid tumors and direct tumoricidal effects. Our succinct review mainly concentrates on the potential mechanisms of combination bacteriolytic therapy, an effective and safe tumor therapy with the help of C. novyi-NT. Importantly, C. novyi-NT spores were shown to induce solid tumor regression and exhibit the property to initiate an immune response. Therefore, C. novyi-NT spores should be an effective and safe tumor therapy.
Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Biological Therapy; Clostridium; Humans; Neoplasms; Spores, Bacterial
PubMed: 29578142
DOI: 10.4103/0973-1482.204841 -
Cell Systems Jul 2018Recent advances in synthetic biology and biological system engineering have allowed the design and construction of engineered live biotherapeutics targeting a range of... (Review)
Review
Recent advances in synthetic biology and biological system engineering have allowed the design and construction of engineered live biotherapeutics targeting a range of human clinical applications. In this review, we outline how systems approaches have been used to move from simple constitutive systems, where a single therapeutic molecule is expressed, to systems that incorporate sensing of the in vivo environment, feedback, computation, and biocontainment. We outline examples where each of these capabilities are achieved in different human disorders, including cancer, inflammation, and metabolic disease, in a number of environments, including the gastrointestinal tract, the liver, and the oral cavity. Throughout, we highlight the challenges of developing microbial therapeutics that are both sensitive and specific. Finally, we discuss how these systems are leading to the realization of engineered live biotherapeutics in the clinic.
Topics: Animals; Bioengineering; Biological Therapy; Drug Delivery Systems; Genetic Engineering; Humans; Probiotics; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 30048620
DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2018.06.008 -
Journal of Infection in Developing... Dec 2016In recent decades, biological therapy has enabled disease activity control and improved quality of life in patients with autoimmune diseases. These therapies that are... (Review)
Review
In recent decades, biological therapy has enabled disease activity control and improved quality of life in patients with autoimmune diseases. These therapies that are involved in immune response modifications and change multiple immunological pathways induce an incremental risk for certain infectious diseases. Though there have been recent advances in risk assessment for biological therapy, there is a lack of data and recommendations for assessing risks in populations with high prevalence of infectious diseases, such as those located in tropical areas and developing countries. We performed a review on infections with biological therapy as well strategies for risk minimization in areas with a high prevalence of tropical diseases.
Topics: Autoimmune Diseases; Biological Therapy; Communicable Disease Control; Developing Countries; Humans; Immunomodulation; Tropical Climate
PubMed: 28036306
DOI: 10.3855/jidc.8222