Acanthamoeba and medical therapy

Pubblicato il

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Argomento

Eye infections

Acanthamoeba keratitis: PHMB treatment selected as 'hot topic' at the ARVO 2015 congress

Appointment in Denver (USA) from 3 to 7 May 2015 for the annual ARVO congress.
This year, from among the abstracts admitted to the prestigious congress promoted by the Association for Vision and Ophthalmology Research, the ARVO Congress Committee selected "Hot Topic, relevant as they represent new and innovative research in their field, the poster:
"The efficacy of polyhexanide (PHMB) eye drops against Acanthamoeba polyphaga investigated by an ATP-bioluminescence assay and a rat model of keratitis.
Antonino Asero¹Andrea Sudano Roccaro¹Loic Favennec², Julie Gueudry²Laetitia Le Goff², Anna Rita Blanco¹ ¹SIFI SPA, Lavinaio, Italy; ²Universitè de Rouen, Rouen, France.

Downloading the poster ODAK_poster ARVO 2015

This prestigious award is given to less than 6% of all abstracts admitted to the annual congress (more than 6,000) and is a testament to the fact that this research can attract the interest of the press and a wider audience.
For this reason, we publish a brief description of this research, written by the authors in a language that can be easily understood by non-specialists.
"Keratitis by Acanthamoeba is a rare eye disease that, in the absence of effective treatment, can lead to loss of vision. At present, there is no drug approved by the regulatory authorities for the pharmacological treatment of this disease, while some products have been used empirically for several years. Poliexanide (PHMB) 0.02% eye drops are frequently used in clinical practice in the treatment of keratitis by Acanthamoebaalthough lacking the necessary testing that precedes the marketing of a drug. In our research, we evaluated the efficacy of PHMB-based eye drops 0.02% and three other eye drops with a higher concentration of PHMB (0.04%; 0.06%; 0.08%) against theAcanthamoeba, the infectious agent that causes this ocular pathology. Thanks to this study, which combines an innovative in vitro test with an in vivo test, it was possible to identify the PHMB 0.02% solution as the least effective of the four concentrations tested. These results emphasise that a rational pharmacological development of PHMB-based eye drops in the future will have to focus on higher concentrations of 0.02%. Naturally, it will be necessary to improve the discriminating capacity of the tests used. Nevertheless, our experimental approach represents a very useful preliminary tool to select the most effective anti-amœbic drug concentration to be tested on humans."

Read the English version

Acanthamoeba Keratitis: PHMB treatment selected as a 'hot topic' at ARVO 2015
Let's meet in Denver (USA) for ARVO annual meeting, 3-7 May 2015!
Among the abstracts admitted to this prestigious event promoted by the Association for the Research in Vision and Ophthalmology the Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC) selected as a "Hot Topic, representing a newest and most innovative research, the poster:
"The efficacy of Polihexanide (PHMB) eye drops against Acanthamoeba polyphaga investigated by an ATP-bioluminescence assay and a rat model of keratitis."
Antonino Asero¹Andrea Sudano Roccaro¹Loic Favennec², Julie Gueudry²Laetitia Le Goff², Anna Rita Blanco¹¹ SIFI SPA, Lavinaio, Italy; ²Universitè de Rouen, Rouen, France.

This prestigious distinction is awarded to less than 6% of all 2015 Annual Meeting abstracts (more than 6,000) and it is an acknowledgement by the AMPC that this research is of interest to a wider audience. Therefore we publish a short description of this research, realised by the Authors in a language that every layman can easily understand.
"Acanthamoeba Keratitis is a rare disease of the eye, which, in the absence of an effective therapy, can lead to visual loss. Currently, there is no approved drug to treat this disease although some drugs are used empirically. Polihexanide (PHMB) eyedrops 0.02% is frequently utilised in the clinical setting, even if it lacks compulsory drug development criteria required to be on the market. In our research the efficacy of PHMB eyedrops 0.02% and other three higher PHMB concentrations (0.04%; 0.06%; 0.08%) have been assessed against Acanthamoebathe infective agent causing this eye disease. Thanks to our studies, which utilise both a novel in vitro and an in vivo test system, it has been possible to identify the 0.02% PHMB solution as the least effective among the four tested concentrations. These findings highlight that in the future a rational pharmaceutical development of PHMB eyedrops should focus on testing concentrations higher than 0.02%. Of course, it will be necessary to improve the discriminating power of these test systems. Nevertheless, our experimental approach represents a very useful preliminary tool for selecting the most appropriate antiamoebic drug concentration to be tested in patients.

Dr. Carmelo Chines
Direttore responsabile