4- Thursday Pharmacotherapy News – 30th December

1 – Role of microRNAs in COVID-19 with implications for therapeutics

• COVID-19 is a pneumonia-like disease with highly transmittable and pathogenic properties caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which infects both animals and humans.
• Although many efforts are currently underway to test possible therapies, there is no specific FDA approved drug against SARS-CoV-2 yet.
• miRNA-directed gene regulation controls the majority of biological processes.
• In addition, the development and progression of several human diseases are associated with dysregulation of miRNAs.
• It has been shown that changes in miRNAs are linked to severity of COVID-19 especially in patients with respiratory diseases, diabetes, heart failure or kidney problems.
• This study will review the roles and importance of host and RNA virus encoded miRNAs in COVID-19 pathogenicity and immune response.

Source: ScienceDirect

2 – Mechanistic role of boswellic acids in Alzheimer’s disease: Emphasis on anti-inflammatory properties

• The resin/gum of Boswellia species belonging to the family of Burseraceae is a naturally occurring mixture of bioactive compounds, which was traditionally used as a folk medicine to treat conditions like chronic inflammation.
• Several research studies have also explored its’ therapeutic potential against multiple neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
• The present review focuses on the possible mechanistic therapeutic role of BAs in modulating the 5-LOX/COX pathway in arachidonic acid metabolism, activating Nrf2 through binding of ARE, inhibiting NF-kB and AChE activity.
• In addition, an inhibition of amyloid plaques (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) induced neurotoxicity and neuroinflammation in AD by BAs is also discussed in this review.
• They have also highlighted that BAs possess beneficial effects in AD by targeting multiple molecular pathways and makes it an emerging drug candidate for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

Source: ScienceDirect

3 – Clinical drug therapies and biologicals currently used or in clinical trial to treat COVID-19

• The potential emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants capable of escaping vaccine-generated immune responses poses a looming threat to vaccination efforts and will likely prolong the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Currently, only one therapeutic is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in treating COVID-19, remdesivir, although other therapies are authorized for emergency use due to this pandemic being a public health emergency.
• In this review, twenty-four different treatments are discussed regarding their use against COVID-19 and any potential future coronavirus-associated illnesses.
• Their traditional use, mechanism of action against COVID-19, and efficacy in clinical trials are assessed.

Source: ScienceDirect

4- Sterilizing Immunity against COVID-19: Developing Helper T cells I and II activating vaccines is imperative

• Six months after the publication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequence, a record number of vaccine candidates were listed, and quite a number of them have since been approved for emergency use.
• The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants could further affect the capability of the available COVID-19 vaccines to prevent infection and protect recipients from a severe form of the disease.
• Here, they discuss the immune responses to viral infection with emphasis on COVID-19, and the specific adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and how it can be harnessed to develop COVID-19 vaccines capable of conferring sterilizing immunity.
• They further propose factors that could be considered in the development of COVID-19 vaccines capable of stimulating sterilizing immunity.
• Also, an old, but effective vaccine development technology that can be applied in the development of COVID-19 vaccines with sterilizing immunity potential is reviewed.

Source: ScienceDirect

5 – Targeting miRNAs with anesthetics in cancer: Current understanding and future perspectives

• Anesthetics are extensively used during cancer surgeries.
• The progression of cancer can be influenced by perioperative events such as exposure to general or local anesthesia.
• However, whether they inhibit cancer or act as a causative factor for metastasis and exert deleterious effects on cancer growth differs based on the type of cancer and the therapy administration.
• Recent experimental data suggested that many of the most commonly used anesthetics in surgical oncology, whether general or local agents, can alter gene expression and cause epigenetic changes via modulating miRNAs.
• This review summarized the current research about the effects of different anesthetics in regulating cancer, with a particular emphasis on the role of miRNAs.

Source: ScienceDirect

6 – Chemically modified mRNA beyond COVID-19: Potential preventive and therapeutic applications for targeting chronic diseases

• Chemically modified mRNA represents a unique, efficient, and straightforward approach to produce a class of biopharmaceutical agents.
• It has been already approved as a vaccination-based method for targeting SARS-CoV-2 virus.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the prospect of synthetic modified mRNA to efficiently and safely combat various diseases.
• Recently, various optimization advances have been adopted to overcome the limitations associated with conventional gene therapeutics leading to wide-ranging applications in different disease conditions.
• This review sheds light on emerging directions of chemically modified mRNAs to prevent and treat widespread chronic diseases, including metabolic disorders, cancer vaccination and immunotherapy, musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, and liver diseases.

Source: ScienceDirect

• Read more from FADIC Blog, with many articles with evidence based articles.
• Learn More Through FADIC® – Online Programs & Mini-Courses.
• Listen Now to FADIC Podcast focusing on varieties of pharmacist perspectives in specialties.
• Read More Now about FADIC Pharmacy Events to get more Experience.

Course Copyrights:

All Courses is meant for SINGLE user use only.
If more than one person acceced this course, they will be BLOCKED Forever.

Why FADIC 2021 Pharmacotherapy Daily News (FNN) ?

• It helps to keep up with the literature!
• Provide you with the Updated with the latest in your clinical practice. Wherever you are, and Whenever you need!
• Help you to share in the advance in clinical career. In addition to adding an impressive image to the pharmacists all-around!

Subscribe to FADIC 2021 Pharmacotherapy Daily News (FNN), for a publication of E-News

Read & Download FNN Issue 8 of April 2020 FNN News