Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of benralizumab in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps: Phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled OSTRO trial.

AIMS: Benralizumab, a humanized, afucosylated monoclonal antibody against the interleukin 5 receptor, α subunit, causes rapid depletion of eosinophils by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. We investigated the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects of benralizumab in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) from the phase III OSTRO trial. METHODS: Patients received a placebo or 30 mg of benralizumab by subcutaneous injection every 8 weeks (first three doses every 4 weeks) to week 48; a subset of patients continued in an extended follow-up period to assess treatment durability to week 80. Serum benralizumab concentrations and blood eosinophil and basophil counts were assessed to week 80. Biomarker assessments were performed on nasal polyp tissue biopsies at week 56 and nasal lining fluid at weeks 24 and 56 to examine changes in immune cells and inflammatory mediators. RESULTS: Among 185 patients in this analysis, 93 received benralizumab. Serum benralizumab concentrations reached a steady state by week 24 (median concentration 385.52 ng mL-1); blood eosinophils were almost fully depleted and blood basophils were reduced between weeks 16 and 56. Nasal polyp tissue eosinophils decreased with benralizumab from 57.6 cells mm-2 at baseline to 0 cells mm-2 at week 56 (P < .001 vs placebo), and tissue mast cells were numerically reduced. In nasal lining fluid, eosinophil-derived neurotoxin was significantly reduced at weeks 24 and 56 (P < .001) and interleukin-17 at week 56 (P < .05) with benralizumab. CONCLUSION: Benralizumab treatment led to rapid, sustained, nearly complete depletion of eosinophils from blood and nasal polyp tissue in patients with CRSwNP.

Study on Synthesis, Characterization and Antiproliferative Activity of Novel Diisopropylphenyl Esters of Selected Fatty Acids.

The present study describes the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of antiproliferative activity of novel diisopropylphenyl esters of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), valproic acid (VA), butyric acid (BA) and 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA). These esters were chemically synthesized by the esterification of fatty acids with 2,6-diisopropylphenol and 2,4-diisopropylphenol (propofol). The structure of new conjugates viz. propofol-(alpha-linolenic acid) (2,6P-ALA and 2,4P-ALA), propofol-valproic acid (2,6P-VA and 2,4P-VA), propofol-butyric acid (2,6P-BA and 2,4P-BA) and propofol-(2-ethylhexanoic acid) (2,6P2-EHA and 2,4P-2-EHA) were characterized by FT-IR, NMR ((1)H, (13)C) and mass spectral data. The synthesized conjugates having more lipophilic character were tested for antiproliferative in vitro studies on A549, MDA-MB-231, HeLa, Mia-Pa-Ca and HePG2 cancer cell lines. All the conjugates showed specific growth inhibition on studied cancer cell lines. Among the synthesized esters, the conjugates synthesized from BA, VA and 2-EHA exhibited prominent growth inhibition against A549, HeLa, Mia-Pa-Ca and HePG2 cancer cell lines. The preliminary results suggest that the entire novel conjugates possess antiproliferative properties that reduce the proliferation of cancer cells in vitro.