scholarly journals Dehydroepiandrosterone Supplementation May Benefit Women with Asthma Who Have Low Androgen Levels: A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadzeya Marozkina ◽  
Joe Zein ◽  
Mark D. DeBoer ◽  
Laurie Logan ◽  
Laura Veri ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Introduction Among individuals with severe asthma, FEV1 is low in individuals with low dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) sulfate (DHEAS) levels. In the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP), no women with DHEAS > 200 μg/dL had an FEV1 < 60% predicted. DHEA has benefited patients with COPD and pulmonary hypertension in small trials. Therefore, we hypothesized that DHEA supplementation may improve FEV1 in asthmatic women with low DHEAS. Methods Premenopausal, nonsmoking, otherwise healthy women, 18-50 years old, with mild or moderate asthma and baseline FEV1 > 60% predicted received 100 mg DHEA orally every 12 h for 2 weeks. Spirometry and DHEAS were measured at the initial visit and 2 weeks later, after completion of DHEA treatment. Based on our previous work, the primary outcome variable for this pilot study was post-albuterol spirometry in the low-DHEAS group. Subjects also continued their other routine asthma management. Results Serum DHEAS increased with DHEA treatment in women with starting DHEAS < 200 µg/dL: this increase was from 71 ± 23 to 725 ± 295 µg/dL (n = 10; p = 0.0001). The increase in the high-DHEAS group was smaller. Post-albuterol FEV1 increased by 51 mL, from 3.026 ± 0.5 to 3.077 ± 0.49 L (n = 10; p = 0.034 by paired t test, significant after Bonferroni), in women with low DHEAS. In the high-DHEAS group (baseline DHEAS ≥ 200 µg/dl), post-albuterol FEV1 did not change significantly (n = 3, p = NS). Three subjects were excluded: one had comorbid COPD, one could not perform spirometry, and one did not take the DHEA. There were no adverse effects of DHEA treatment in this trial. Conclusions Endocrine treatments (corticosteroids) are a mainstay of anti-inflammatory management for moderate and severe asthma. Their use has improved asthma outcomes. Androgens also reduce airway inflammation and promote airway smooth muscle relaxation, but are rarely used clinically for asthma treatment. Our results suggest that the over-the-counter steroid DHEA may improve lung function in asthma outcomes among women with DHEAS < 200 ug/dL.

Author(s):  
Moumita Hazra

Background: Arformoterol, the (R, R) enantiomer of the racemic (R, R / S, S) diastereomer, formoterol, is a short and long acting β2 agonist bronchodilator. Levosalbutamol, the (R, R) enantiomer of racemic diastereomer (R, R / S, S) salbutamol, has a greater affinity for the β2 receptor. Occupation of β2 receptors by agonists result in the activation of the Gs-adenylyl cyclase-cAMP-PKA pathway, followed by phosphorylative events leading to bronchial smooth muscle relaxation. The aim of this pharmacoepidemiological study was to analyse the prescription patterns, and prescription content analysis, of arformoterol, levosalbutamol, formoterol or salbutamol, in non-severe asthma exacerbation in tertiary care hospitals, not needing hospitalization.Methods: It was a multi-centre, retrospective, observational and analytical study of 100 asthmatic patients’ hospital medical records, treated with 3 doses of arformoterol, levosalbutamol, formoterol or salbutamol nebulization, followed by peak expiratory flow rates (PEFR) measurement at the baseline and 6 minutes, after each dose; along with adverse effects recording. The number of prescriptions of 100 patients was recorded, the percentage of prescriptions was calculated, and the prescription content analysis was done.Results: PEFR of the patients showed significant increase after the first, second and third doses of bronchodilator nebulisation, with negligible adverse effects. Salbutamol was most commonly prescribed (45 prescriptions, 45%), followed by levosalbutamol (35 prescriptions, 35%), formoterol (15 prescriptions, 15%) and arformoterol (5 prescriptions, 5%). All aspects of prescription content analysis showed 100% completeness.Conclusions: Arformoterol was more effective, but equally safe, as compared to levosalbutamol, formoterol and salbutamol. Prescription frequency of salbutamol was followed by levosalbutamol, formoterol and arformoterol. Prescription content analyses showed 100% completeness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. e8-e16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelica Tiotiu

Background: Severe asthma is a heterogeneous disease that consists of various phenotypes driven by different pathways. Associated with significant morbidity, an important negative impact on the quality of life of patients, and increased health care costs, severe asthma represents a challenge for the clinician. With the introduction of various antibodies that target type 2 inflammation (T2) pathways, severe asthma therapy is gradually moving to a personalized medicine approach. Objective: The purpose of this review was to emphasize the important role of personalized medicine in adult severe asthma management. Methods: An extensive research was conducted in medical literature data bases by applying terms such as “severe asthma” associated with “structured approach,” “comorbidities,” “biomarkers,” “phenotypes/endotypes,” and “biologic therapies.” Results: The management of severe asthma starts with a structured approach to confirm the diagnosis, assess the adherence to medications and identify confounding factors and comorbidities. The definition of phenotypes or endotypes (phenotypes defined by mechanisms and identified through biomarkers) is an important step toward the use of personalized medicine in asthma. Severe allergic and nonallergic eosinophilic asthma are two defined T2 phenotypes for which there are efficacious targeted biologic therapies currently available. Non-T2 phenotype remains to be characterized, and less efficient target therapy exists. Conclusion: Despite important progress in applying personalized medicine to severe asthma, especially in T2 inflammatory phenotypes, future research is needed to find valid biomarkers predictive for the response to available biologic therapies to develop more effective therapies in non-T2 phenotype.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (18) ◽  
pp. 1544-1557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sijia Xiao ◽  
Qianbin Li ◽  
Liqing Hu ◽  
Zutao Yu ◽  
Jie Yang ◽  
...  

Soluble Guanylate Cyclase (sGC) is the intracellular receptor of Nitric Oxide (NO). The activation of sGC results in the conversion of Guanosine Triphosphate (GTP) to the secondary messenger cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate (cGMP). cGMP modulates a series of downstream cascades through activating a variety of effectors, such as Phosphodiesterase (PDE), Protein Kinase G (PKG) and Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Ion Channels (CNG). NO-sGC-cGMP pathway plays significant roles in various physiological processes, including platelet aggregation, smooth muscle relaxation and neurotransmitter delivery. With the approval of an sGC stimulator Riociguat for the treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), the enthusiasm in the discovery of sGC modulators continues for broad clinical applications. Notably, through activating the NO-sGC-cGMP pathway, sGC stimulator and activator potentiate for the treatment of various diseases, such as PAH, Heart Failure (HF), Diabetic Nephropathy (DN), Systemic Sclerosis (SS), fibrosis as well as other diseases including Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and Central Nervous System (CNS) disease. Here, we review the preclinical and clinical studies of sGC stimulator and activator in recent years and prospect for the development of sGC modulators in the near future.


1996 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Eric Le Pelley ◽  
Pierre Corbi ◽  
Thierry Chataigneau ◽  
Robert Tricoche ◽  
Jacques Fusciardi

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Stewart ◽  
Frank Kee ◽  
Nigel Hart

AbstractShielding during the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the potential of routinely collected primary care records to identify patients with ‘high-risk’ conditions, including severe asthma. We aimed to determine how previous studies have used primary care records to identify and investigate severe asthma and whether linkage to other data sources is required to fully investigate this ‘high-risk’ disease variant. A scoping review was conducted based on the Arksey and O’Malley framework. Twelve studies met all criteria for inclusion. We identified variation in how studies defined the background asthma cohort, asthma severity, control and clinical outcomes. Certain asthma outcomes could only be investigated through linkage to secondary care records. The ability of primary care records to represent the entire known asthma population is unique. However, a number of challenges need to be overcome if their full potential to accurately identify and investigate severe asthma is to be realised.


1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
O Ré ◽  

Endogenous nitric oxide mediates smooth-muscle relaxation with subsequent vasodilatation in the vascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and genitourinary tissues. Transdermal nitroglycerine (a nitric oxide donor) has been found effective in inhibiting uterine contractility during premature labour. Sixty-five women with histories of moderate-to-severe pain associated with menses were treated with nitroglycerine patches that delivered 0.2 or 0.1 mg/h. Patches were applied as necessary during the first 3 days of the menstrual cycle for up to three consecutive cycles. Pain intensity was assessed at baseline and at 30 min and at 1, 2 and 4 h after patch application. Most patients obtained pain relief with the first dose of the first day. Pain relief was satisfactory to excellent in 90% of the patients. Headache was reported by 20% of the patients, most often in patients using two consecutive patches. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is underway in an attempt to confirm the above findings.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
M. Dambros ◽  
P. Palma ◽  
C. Riccetto ◽  
R. Fraga ◽  
M. Thiel ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanji Nakatsu ◽  
Jack Diamond

The hypothesis that the relaxant action of many drugs on vascular and other smooth muscle is mediated by increases in intracellular cGMP, the "cGMP hypothesis," is gaining wide acceptance. While much information supporting this idea can be found in the literature, there is also a significant amount of information indicating that an elevation in the tissue content of cGMP is by itself insufficient to cause smooth muscle relaxation. The literature is reviewed with reference to the criteria that need to be fulfilled to consider cGMP as the second messenger mediating relaxation of smooth muscle by a drug; i.e., activation of guanylate cyclase, elevation of tissue content of cGMP, potentiation by phosphodiesterase inhibitors, antagonism by inhibitors of cGMP synthesis, and production of relaxation by cGMP analogues. For each criterion, key observations supporting the hypothesis are considered, followed by examples of important observations not consistent with the hypothesis. It is concluded that in some smooth muscles, for example, rat myometrium and vas deferens, cGMP is not a mediator of drug-induced relaxation. In other smooth muscles, including vascular smooth muscle, cGMP appears to play an important role in the relaxation process; but current evidence suggests that other factors are also important and that the cGMP hypothesis may need to be modified.Key words: cGMP, vascular relaxation, smooth muscle relaxation, vasodilators.


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