Current Clinical Pharmacology - Volume 1, Issue 3, 2006

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the administration of a photosensitizer followed by light irradiation with a specific wavelength, giving rise to irreversible tissue destruction. Hypericin, a herbal extract derived from Hypericum perforatum or St. John's Wort, has minimal toxicity but exhibits potent photo-damaging effects in the presence of light. Hypericin is known to generate a high yield of singlet oxygen and other reactive Read More

Sorafenib (BAY 43-9006) is a novel oral bis-aryl urea compound originally developed as an inhibitor to RAF kinase for its anti-proliferative property. It also inhibits receptor tyrosine kinases of multiple pro-angiogenic factors such as VEGFR-2/3, Flt-3/ and PDGFR-β. The combination of both its anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic properties makes sorafenib an attractive agent in cancer treatment. Phase I studies demonstrated that Read More

Cerebral inflammation is a common phenomenon during the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. In general, neurodegenerative diseases have unpredictable clinical courses and timely effective treatment is not available. For effective clinical trials on new drugs, suitable surrogate markers to monitor disease progression are required. The extent of cerebral inflammation could be such a surrogate marker. Nuclear i Read More

Rapid (premature) ejaculation (RE) is defined as persistent or recurrent ejaculation with minimal sexual stimulation before, upon, or shortly after penetration and before it is wished by the man or his partner. RE is the most frequently encountered sexual complaint of men and couples. Estimates suggest that as many as one third of all sexually active men suffer from RE. RE has been treated with various modalities. Thes Read More

Conventional pharmacokinetic trials in oncology measure the total amount of drug and its metabolites in the plasma of patients. These total drug concentrations are then correlated with clinical parameters such as toxicity and/or drug efficacy. However, total drug concentrations in plasma are often not directly related to tumor or tissue concentrations and the kinetics in (tumor) tissue may be very different from the kinetics of t Read More

Chronobiology studies the phenomenon of rhythmicity in living organisms. Circadian rhythms are genetically determined and are regulated by external synchronizers (i.e. light/day cycle). Several biological processes involved in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs are subject to circadian variations. Chronopharmacology studies how biological rhythms impact on drug pharmacokinetic (chronokinetics), p Read More

This review describes the mechanisms of drug resistance of the most clinically relevant mycobacteria and the methods that have been used for studying drug susceptibility (pnenotype, genotype and in vivo tests) and it describes the more important resistance mechanisms to the drugs. Also, this review describes the relationship between microbiological and pharmacological data and the importance of latency -stationary phas Read More

The idea that the liver enzyme cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6), known also as nicotine C-oxidase, is one of the determinants of smoking addiction and smoking behavior is primarily based on its role in nicotine metabolism and disposition. The results of studies linking the CYP2A6 genetic polymorphism with smoking dependence and smoking behavior however remain controversial. The most likely causes of the controversi Read More

Irinotecan (CPT-11) significantly improves the efficacy of colorectal cancer treatment, demonstrating a superior efficacy with respect to leucovorin-modulated 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), also in fluoropyrimidine-resistant neoplasms. Preclinical studies demonstrated the inhibition of topoisomerase I by CPT-11 active metabolite 7-ethyl-10- hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38), and the possible synergistic interaction with other drugs effective ag Read More