Nemolizumab efficacy in prurigo nodularis: onset of action on itch and sleep disturbances.

BACKGROUND: Patients with prurigo nodularis (PN) have multiple itchy nodules, impaired quality of life and sleep deprivation. Prurigo nodularis patients have a high burden of disease, primarily due to the intensity of the itch. It is reasonable to expect that rapid relief of itch - and associated improvement of sleep - are highly valued clinical outcomes for patients. Nemolizumab is an IL-31A-receptor inhibitor that modulates the neuroimmune response with reported positive efficacy and safety data in a phase 2 study of PN. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the onset of action of nemolizumab on itch and sleep disturbances. METHODS: Post hoc analysis of a phase 2 trial of nemolizumab 0.5 mg/kg SC vs. placebo in patients (n = 70) with moderate-to-severe PN (≥20 nodules) and severe pruritus (NRS ≥ 7). Time to significant reduction was assessed for peak pruritus (PP) and sleep disturbance (SD) using numerical rating scales (NRS), also assessed was scratching time during sleep. RESULTS: Nemolizumab significantly reduced itch vs. placebo within 48 h (PP NRS -19.5% vs. -5.8%, respectively, P = 0.014). Significant difference between nemolizumab and placebo in reducing itch by ≥4 on PP NRS was achieved at Day 3 (23.5% vs. 0%, P < 0.001). A significant difference in SD NRS was reported by Day 4 (-24.0% vs. -4.3% placebo, P = 0.012). In addition, there was a separation between groups in SD responders (decrease of ≥4 points) in favour of nemolizumab by Day 2 (8.8% vs. 0%, P = 0.037). Sleep continued improving through Week 4, when there was a -56.0% reduction in SD NRS vs. -22.9% placebo (P < 0.001). Actigraphy data showed improvement in scratch/sleep duration for nemolizumab vs. placebo, respectively, by Week 1 (-32.15 vs. +28.15 min/h, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Nemolizumab has a rapid and robust onset of action in PN with itch reduction and improvement of sleep within 48 h.

Nemolizumab is associated with a rapid improvement in atopic dermatitis signs and symptoms: subpopulation (EASI ≥ 16) analysis of randomized phase 2B study.

BACKGROUND: Nemolizumab is a humanized anti-IL-31 receptor blocker in phase 3 for atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVE: Analyse onset of action of nemolizumab 30 mg and compare efficacy and safety vs placebo (SC q4wk plus loading dose) in moderate-to-severe AD. METHODS: Post hoc analysis of patients with Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) scores ≥ 16 from a phase 2b trial of moderate-to-severe AD. Endpoints were change in EASI score at week 16, peak pruritus numeric rating scale (PP-NRS), Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA), changes in sleep and responders with ≥ 4-point improvement on PP-NRS. RESULTS: There was a significantly greater itch relief apparent by Day 2 (-22.8% vs -12.3% PP-NRS; P = 0.005) which continued to improve through week 16 (-68.5% vs -30.9% PP-NRS; P < 0.001). At week 16, PP-NRS ≥ 4-point response of itch was observed in 68.0% nemolizumab vs 15.9% placebo patients (P ≤ 0.001). There was also a rapid improvement of sleep disturbance with nemolizumab 30 mg, with a significant separation from placebo by Day 3 (-26.6% vs -9.0%; P < 0.001) which further improved till week 16 (-76.0% vs -36.5%; P < 0.001). Also for the EASI score a separation between groups in favour of nemolizumab was observed by week 1 (P ≤ 0.001), which increased through week 16 (-68.6% vs. -42.6%; P = 0.002). Finally, the degree of response was greater in nemolizumab-treated patients; clinically relevant reductions of 75% EASI were observed in 50.0% of nemolizumab patients versus 15.9% of placebo patients, while 90% reductions were reported for 36.0% and 6.8% of patients, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). IGA success (score of 0/1) was 32.0% for nemolizumab vs 6.8% for placebo (P = 0.002). Nemolizumab was safe and well-tolerated in this population; nasopharyngitis and upper respiratory tract infection were the most common adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Nemolizumab resulted in very rapid, sustained improvements of inflammation, pruritus and sleep in patients with EASI ≥ 16 at baseline.

H1-antihistamine-refractory chronic spontaneous urticaria: it's worse than we thought - first results of the multicenter real-life AWARE study.

BACKGROUND: Most data on chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) originate from highly selected patient populations treated at specialized centres. Little is known about CSU patient characteristics and the burden of CSU in routine clinical practice. AWARE (A World-wide Antihistamine-Refractory chronic urticaria patient Evaluation) is an ongoing global study designed to assess chronic urticaria in the real-life setting. OBJECTIVE: To describe the baseline characteristics of the first 1539 German AWARE patients with H1-antihistamine-refractory CSU. METHODS: This prospective non-interventional study included patients (18-75 years) with a diagnosis of H1-antihistamine-refractory CSU for > 2 months. Baseline demographic and disease characteristics, comorbidities, and pharmacological treatments were recorded. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the dermatology life quality index (DLQI), chronic urticaria QoL questionnaire (CU-Q2 oL), and angioedema QoL questionnaire (AE-QoL, in cases of angioedema). Previous healthcare resource utilization and sick leave data were collected retrospectively. RESULTS: Between March and December 2014, 1539 patients were assessed in 256 sites across Germany. The percentage of females, mean age, and mean body mass index were 70%, 46.3 years, and 27 kg/m2 , respectively. The mean urticaria control test score was 7.9, one in two patients had angioedema, and the most frequent comorbidities were chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU; 24%), allergic rhinitis (18.2%), hypertension (18.1%), asthma (12%), and depression (9.5%). Overall, 57.6% of patients were receiving at least one pharmacological treatment including second-generation H1-antihistamines (46.3%), first-generation H1-antihistamines (9.1%), and corticosteroids (15.8%). The mean DLQI, total CU-Q2 oL, and total AE-QoL scores were 8.3, 36.2, and 46.8, respectively. CSU patients reported frequent use of healthcare resources, including emergency services (29.7%), general practitioners (71.9%), and additional allergists or dermatologists (50.7%). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study reveals that German H1-antihistamine-refractory CSU patients have high rates of uncontrolled disease, angioedema, and comorbid CIndU, are undertreated, have impaired QoL, and rely heavily on healthcare resources.

Estimation, variance and optimal sampling of gene diversity II. Diploid locus.

Nei's analysis of diversity at a diploid locus is extended to a population subdivided into a large number of subpopulations. The diversities and the heterozygotes frequency are defined with respect to the total population and unbiasedly estimated in a two-stage random cluster sampling. The fixation indices F IS, F IT andF ST are derived, then inter- and intra-population variances of the estimated parameters are studied. We show that there is a unique sample size per population which yields the best accuracy in estimatingF ST and F IS, respectively, at a given locus. These results are illustrated with an analysis of DNA diversity in a forest tree and compared to those obtained under the Hardy-Weinberg assumption.

Arterial and antihypertensive effects of nitrendipine: a double-blind comparison versus placebo.

Arterial effects evaluated by carotid-femoral, brachial-radial, and femoral-tibial pulse wave velocity and antihypertensive effect evaluated by 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring were measured in 17 hypertensive patients before and 24 h after once-daily nitrendipine (20 mg) administration. After a 15-day placebo period, a double-blind study of nitrendipine versus placebo was performed for 1 month. After nitrendipine dosing, BP measured by sphygmomanometer 24 h after the last drug intake showed a significant decrease as compared with the pretreatment period. Ambulatory BP mean values were also significantly decreased for systolic and diastolic BP (SBP, DBP). This decrease predominated during the day but was observed nocturnally only after 6 a.m. Twenty-four hours after the last tablet intake of nitrendipine, carotid-femoral and brachial-radial pulse wave velocities were significantly reduced, whereas femoral-tibial wave velocity was unchanged, indicating that markers of arterial rigidity might be substantially modified and that the modifications were partly unrelated to BP changes. The results provide evidence that in hypertensive subjects nitrendipine 20 mg given once daily for 1 month produces an arterial effect for 24 h, in association with BP reduction.

Elevated concentrations of circulating intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) in HIV-1 infection.

The aim of this study was to determine whether elevated levels of circulating forms of the soluble adhesion molecules, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (cICAM-1), Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (cVCAM-1) and E-Selectin (cE-Selectin) are observed in the sera of HIV-1 infected individuals as compared to healthy HIV seronegative adults and whether these elevated levels can be correlated with disease progression. Significantly elevated levels of cICAM-1-ranging from 184 to 1116 ng/ml with a mean of 617 ng/ml-and cVCAM-1-ranging from 653 to 3456 ng/ml with a mean of 1500 ng/ml-were observed in the sera of 29 HIV-1 infected individuals as compared to controls-ranging from 152 to 354 ng/ml with a mean of 248 ng/ml for cICAM-1 and from 328 to 792 ng/ml with a mean of 560 ng/ml for cVCAM-1 (P < 0.001). The serum concentrations of cE-Selectin of the HIV-1 infected individuals did not differ from those of the healthy controls. The elevated levels of cICAM-1, cVCAM-1 did not correlate with the CD4 count or the serum concentration of C-reactive protein. However, a significant correlation was observed between the serum concentrations of cVCAM-1 and those of neopterin. Since cICAM-1 as well as cVCAM-1 can interfere with adhesion events leading to immunological functions, it can be suggested that the high amounts of these circulating forms of adhesion molecules, when present in the sera of HIV-1 positive individuals, can further disturb the immune system of these patients. In addition, the present study also suggests that the seric concentrations of cVCAM-1 can be used as pronostic indicators.