Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0003864 (arthritis)
 69,039 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Vascular endothelial growth factor - A (VEGF-A), is a major factor implicated in choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) and therefore a target for therapeutic agents in wet age related macular degeneration (AMD). Ranibiuzumab (Lucentis) blocks all active isoforms of VEGF-A and the products of their degradation. It penetrates through all layers of the retina in order to reach the target tissue. It is quickly removed from the system and it is characterised by low level of immunogenicity. The essence of angiogenesis is formation of new vessels by branching and expansion of already existing ones. Angiogenesis is an important physiological process that takes place during the healing of wounds, reconstruction of hypoxic injury and reproduction. However some diseases such as cancer, arthritis, diabetes and neovascular AMD are associated with persistent unregulated angiogenesis. There is an important question whether binding vascular-endothelial growth factors in wet AMD therapies using ranibizumab is correlated with the increase of the incidence of systematic adverse effects (AEs), such as cardiovascular episodes or thrombosis. The aim of this article is to present ranibizumab as a safe drug in treating wet AMD patients. Even though the concentration of Lucentis administered in a dose of 0.3 or 0.5 mg into the vitreous body in the organism is very low, the incidence of AEs during the anti-VEGF therapy was traced. In MARINA and ANCHOR studies, occurrence of possible AEs was observed. No statistically significant differences were shown in the AEs frequency between the patients treated with ranibizumab and the control group, and in correlation with the general population of patients suffering from wet AMD.
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PMID:Safety of ranibizumab therapy in wet AMD and the role of vascular endothelial growth factors in physiological angiogenesis. 2082 71

Although the precise etiology of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains obscure, heightened immune response is thought to play a vital role in provoking joint inflammation and bone erosion. This study aims at comparatively evaluating the effects of two monoclonal antibodies Ranibizumab (RANI) as anti-VEGF antibody and Tocilizumab (TCZ) as interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) antagonist, against adjuvant induced arthritis in rats. CFA-induced arthritic rats were treated for three consecutive weeks with Methotrexate (MTX), TCZ and RANI monotherapy. Clinical assessment of RA, bone erosion, inflammatory, angiogenic and apoptotic markers were determined to assess the anti-arthritic effect. Liver enzymes and histopathological examination of liver and spleen were assessed to evaluate the toxicity profile of the tested therapeutic agents. MTX, TCZ and RANI monotherapy significantly enhanced the anti-arthritic parameters in comparison with the Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritic rats through significant reduction of ankle and paw swelling. Also, they significantly reduced inflammatory, angiogenic and apoptotic markers. Importantly, Ranibizumab showed better effect than the standard anti-rheumatic drugs Methotrexate (MTX) or Tocilizumab (TCZ) in bone protection and cartilage health; hence proves to be a promising new therapeutic agent for RA.
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PMID:Comparative study of anti-VEGF Ranibizumab and Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist Tocilizumab in Adjuvant-induced Arthritis. 3002 50