Tranilast: a review of its therapeutic applications.

Tranilast (N-[3',4'-dimethoxycinnamoyl]-anthranilic acid) is an analog of a tryptophan metabolite. Initially, tranilast was identified as an anti-allergic agent, and used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as bronchial asthma, atypical dermatitis, allergic conjunctivitis, keloids and hypertrophic scars. Subsequently, the results showed that it could be also effective in the management of a wide range of conditions. The beneficial effects of tranilast have also been seen in a variety of disease states, such as fibrosis, proliferative disorders, cancer, cardiovascular problems, autoimmune disorders, ocular diseases, diabetes and renal diseases. Moreover, several trials have shown that it has very low adverse effects and it is generally well tolerated by patients. In this review, we have attempted to accurately summarize previously published studies relating to the use of tranilast for a range of disorders and discuss the drug's possible mode of action. The major mode of the drug's efficacy appears to be the suppression of the expression and/or action of the TGF-ß pathway, but the drug affects other factors as well. The findings presented in this review demonstrate the potential of tranilast for the control of a vast array of pathological situations, furthermore, it is a prescribed drug without severe side effects.

Effects of extracellular calcium concentration on neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells by staurosporine.

Staurosporine as an inhibitor of protein kinases can induce neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells. We investigated the role of extracellular Ca(2+) on staurosporine inducing neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. The cells were cultured during cell differentiation in the presence of 214 nM staurosporine with 0.0-0.7 Ca(2+)mM as treatment media. We obtained the fraction of neurite-bearing cells, total neurite length and the percentage of cytotoxiciy. The results showed that decrease or increase of extracellular calcium ions resulted in correspondingly significant decrease or increase in total neurite length and cell differentiation in treated cells. With an increase of extracellular calcium concentration from 0.0 to 0.7 mM, the percentage of cytotoxicity of the PC12 cells decreased (p<0.05). Our data suggest that staurosporine uses the extracellular calcium ions to affect on neurite outgrowth.