Categories: Sciences

Stroke: a promising new drug combination

A new drug combination is more effective in stroke protection and recovery than single drugs

New research reports that the combination of a new drug and selected DHA derivatives, an omega 3, is more effective at protecting brain cells and increasing recovery after stroke than a single drug.

Stroke: the numbers of the problem

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. And so every 40 seconds someone in the US has a stroke every 40 seconds and every 4 minutes a person dies from a stroke. About 87% are ischemic strokes, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked. The costs associated with this disease in the United States they amount to nearly $ 46 billion between 2014 and 2015. This includes the cost of health services, treatment drugs and lost working days. Stroke is a leading cause of severe long-term disability. In fact, it reduces mobility in more than half of survivors over the age of 65. During a ischemic stroke, the signals produced by incoming white blood cells and primary immune cells in the brain, called microglia, cause the neuroinfiammazione leading to a buildup of brain-damaging chemicals. Platelet Activation Factor (PAF) accumulates and inhibition of this process plays a critical role in neuronal survival.

Drug studies

A complicating factor in the development of strategie neuroprotettive for stroke it is the multiple pathways and events that occur in the brain. Treatments with monotherapy agents have mostly been unsuccessful. The Dr. Bazan he has been studying pharmacological approaches to stroke complications for some time. It has shown that in addition to its anti-inflammatory properties an acid omega-3 fat essential, said gave, stimulates the production of neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1), a molecule that protects brain cells and promotes their survival. Since no single therapy has proven effective in treating the complexity of stroke, the team targeted two different events. The first is the blockade of pro-inflammatory platelet activating factor receptors (PAF-R) and the second is the activation of cell survival pathways.

The double treatment against stroke

Dr. Bazan’s team found discovered that the synthetic molecule LAU-0901 blocks the pro-inflammatory platelet activating factor. Combining LAU-0901 with theNPD1 activated byaspirin (AT-NPD1) managed to reduce the size of the damaged area in the brain during stroke and initiate its repair. This led to a behavioral recovery greatly improved. The combination of treatments reduced the lees by 62% size of the lesions without aspirin and del 90% with the addition of the latter drug. Combined treatment with LAU ‑ 0901 plus AT ‑ NPD1 improved the behavioral score up to 54% after the third day of treatment. In addition, the combination reduced the production of the factor proinfiammatorio 12-hydroxyicosatetraenoic acid. Researchers believe that the biological activity of LAU-0901 and AT-NPD1 is due to the specific modulation of the signaling pathways associated with the immune system, inflammation and interaction between cells. The combination of the molecules therefore promotes the survival of neuronal cells. This combination therapy may therefore hold promise for future therapeutic development for ischemic stroke. Dr. Bazan observes:

These findings provide an important conceptual advance of broad therapeutic relevance for cell survival, brain function and, in particular, stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.