Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0085593 (chills)
 4,268 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The characteristics and clinical uses of recombinant colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) are described, and the pharmacist's role as a consultant and educator on biotherapeutic substances is discussed. CSFs stimulate the formation and differentiation of the erythrocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes, and platelets that compose the blood cell population. Recombinant CSFs represent a means by which the numbers of hematopoietic cells can be modulated, thus making these agents potentially useful in treating hematologic and immunologic deficiencies. CSFs also can increase the ability of neutrophils and monocyte-macrophages to protect the body against foreign invasion. Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has increased host defenses in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients with Kaposi's sarcoma; increased neutrophil, platelet, and erythrocyte counts in preleukemic patients; and increased neutrophil counts in patients with aplastic anemia. GM-CSF and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) have appeared to alleviate the drastic decrease in neutrophil counts associated with cytotoxic chemotherapy. G-CSF also has shown promise in stimulating neutrophil production in patients with transitional cell carcinoma, congenital agranulocytosis, and hairy-cell leukemia. Mild adverse effects such as fever, chills, rash, fatigue, myalgia, and bone pain are associated with GM-CSF therapy; G-CSF therapy is associated mostly with mild to moderate bone pain. Areas of education for pharmacists working with biotherapeutic substances include stability, storage temperature, drug interactions, novel drug-delivery systems such as monoclonal antibodies or liposomes, variations in biologic activity, and the evolving nature of the information about these investigational drugs. The pharmacist can anticipate an increasing role as a consultant on the use of CSFs and other biotherapeutic substances.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Colony-stimulating factors and tomorrow's pharmacy: why we must be ready. 269 Jun 7

The availability of effective monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has revolutionised the management of patients with B-cell malignancies. The most widely studied of these agents is rituximab (Rituxan, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA), a chimeric anti-CD20 antibody. Using the standard 4-weekly administration schedule, rituximab induces responses in almost half of patients with relapsed follicular/low-grade (F/LG) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) with complete remissions in 6%. Lower response rates (RRs) have been noted in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) using the standard dose and schedule. The drug has been well tolerated in most patients with common adverse events including mild to moderate fevers and chills and rare occurrences of a serious syndrome related to cytokine release and rapid tumour clearance. This antibody is also active against aggressive NHL, mantle cell NHL, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), lymphoplasmacytic NHL and hairy cell leukaemia and is also being evaluated in autoimmune disorders. Combinations of rituximab with chemotherapy regimens such as CHOP (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, predinisone) may alter the therapeutic paradigm for these diseases. The future promise of this antibody is a foundation on which to develop new strategies to increase the cure of patients with lymphoid malignancies.
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PMID:Rituximab: clinical development and future directions. 1177 44