Antinociceptive efficacy of lacosamide in rat models for tumor- and chemotherapy-induced cancer pain.

Pain is the most common physical symptom of cancer patients, with most patients experiencing more than one site of pain. Current treatments lack full efficacy. Based on the need for new approaches in that field the effect of systemic administration of lacosamide (SPM 927, (R)-2-acetamido-N-benzyl-3-methoxypropionamide, previously referred to as harkoseride or ADD 234037), a member of a series of functionalized amino acids that were specifically synthesized as anticonvulsive drug candidates, was examined in rats in a tumor-induced bone cancer pain model and in a chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain model. Lacosamide inhibited tactile allodynia (20, 40 mg/kg, i.p.), thermal hyperalgesia (30 mg/kg) and reduced weight-bearing differences (40 mg/kg) in the rat model of bone cancer pain induced by injection of MRMT-1 cells into the tibia. Morphine (5 mg/kg, s.c) was effective inhibiting tactile allodynia and weight bearing but could not reduce thermal hyperalgesia. In the vincristine-induced neuropathic pain model, lacosamide attenuated thermal allodynia, on the cold plate (4 degrees C), at 10 and 30 mg/kg, and in the warm (38 degrees C) and hot plate (52 degrees C) even at 3 mg/kg. Tactile allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia were inhibited by lacosamide at 10 and 30 mg/kg. In contrast to lacosamide, morphine (3 mg/kg, s.c.) had no effect on mechanical hyperalgesia. Lacosamide is effective as an analgesic in a bone cancer pain model as well as chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain model in animals and even reduced hyperalgesia where morphine did not (3 or 5 mg/kg, s.c.).

The rising incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes and reduced contribution of high-risk HLA haplotypes.

The incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes has risen over the past 50 years. We compared the frequency of HLA class II haplotypes in 194 patients diagnosed more than 50 years ago and 582 age-matched and sex-matched individuals diagnosed between 1985 and 2002. The proportion of high-risk susceptibility genotypes was increased in the earlier cohort (p=0.003), especially in those diagnosed at age 5 years or younger, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the rise of type 1 diabetes is due to a major environmental effect.

Association of variants within APOE, SORL1, RUNX1, BACE1 and ALDH18A1 with dementia in Alzheimer's disease in subjects with Down syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Down syndrome (DS) is caused by either complete or partial triplication of chromosome 21, affecting approximately 1/1000 live births, and it is widely accepted that individuals with DS are more likely to develop dementia of Alzheimer's disease (DAD) compared with the general population. Many studies have investigated genetic susceptibility to AD in the general population, resulting in a number of potential candidate genes that may influence the development of DAD. The majority of these variants, however, have not been investigated in subjects with DS. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine whether genetic variants previously associated with AD in the general population, were also associated with DAD in individuals with DS. METHODS: Genotyping of 43 SNPs within 28 genes was undertaken in 187 individuals with Down syndrome with and without dementia of Alzheimer's disease, using the SNPlex platform. RESULTS: Significant associations of SNPs in five genes with DAD in DS were found, namely APOE, SORL1, BACE1, RUNX1 and ALDH18A1. As expected, the most strongly associated SNP was the APOE ɛ4 rs429358 variant (HR=2.47 [1.58, 3.87], p=7.52×10(-5)), although variants within the more recently implicated SORL1 and RUNX1 genes were also strongly associated with DAD in DS (HR=0.54 [0.37, 0.80], p=0.002 and HR=1.61 [1.15, 2.26], p=0.006 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that a number of variants previously associated with AD in the general population are also associated with DAD in DS. To enable us to determine whether these variants, as well as other more recently revealed AD susceptibility variants, truly contribute to the development of DAD in DS, further multi-centre collaborative studies comprising large number of individuals with DS are needed.