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Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare, clonal, hematopoietic stem cell disorder that manifests with a complement-mediated hemolytic anemia, bone marrow failure, and a propensity for thrombosis. These patients experience both intra- and extravascular hemolysis in the context of underlying complement activation. Currently eculizumab effectively blocks the intravascular hemolysis PNH. There remains an unmet clinical need for a complement inhibitor with activity early in the complement cascade to block complement at the classical and alternative pathways. C1 esterase inhibitor (C1INH) is an endogenous human plasma protein that has broad inhibitory activity in the complement pathway through inhibition of the classical pathway by binding C1r and C1s and inhibits the mannose-binding lectin-associated serine proteases in the lectin pathway. In this study, we show that commercially available plasma derived C1INH prevents lysis induced by the alternative complement pathway of PNH erythrocytes in human serum. Importantly, C1INH was able to block the accumulation of C3 degradation products on CD55 deficient erythrocytes from PNH patient on eculizumab therapy. This could suggest a role for inhibition of earlier phases of the complement cascade than that currently inhibited by eculizumab for incomplete or nonresponders to that therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the use of Cinryze (nanofiltered C1-esterase inhibitor [C1 INH-nf]) for the acute management and prevention of hereditary angioedema attacks in the subgroup of children and adolescents who participated in 2 placebo-controlled and 2 open-label extension studies. Study design: In the acute-attack treatment studies, the efficacy of 1000 U of C1 INH-nf (with an additional 1000 U given 1 hour later if needed) was assessed based on the time to the start of symptomatic relief and the proportion of patients experiencing relief within 4 hours of therapy. In the prophylaxis studies, C1 INH-nf 1000 U was given twice weekly, and efficacy was based on the frequency of attacks. Results: Across 4 studies, 46 children received a total of 2237 C1 INH-nf infusions. The median time to the start of unequivocal relief in the acute-attack treatment study (n = 12) was 30 minutes with C1 INH-nf, compared with 2 hours for placebo. In the open-label extension (n = 22), clinical relief began within 4 hours of therapy in 89% of attacks. In the prophylaxis study (n = 4), the number of attacks was reduced by approximately 2-fold with C1 INH-nf compared with placebo. In the prophylaxis open-label extension (n = 23), the median monthly attack rate decreased from 3.0 before treatment to 0.39 with C1 INH-nf use. Conclusion: In children, C1 INH-nf was well tolerated, provided relief from symptoms of hereditary angioedema attacks, and reduced the rate of attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have previously demonstrated that biomarkers of inflammation and immune activity detected within intraoperative renal transplant allograft biopsies are linked to adverse short-term post-transplantation clinical outcomes. Now we provide a post hoc analysis of our earlier data in the light of longer clinical follow-up. A total of 75 consecutively performed renal allografts were analyzed for gene expression of proinflammatory molecules, inflammation-induced adhesion molecules, and antiapoptotic genes expressed 15 minutes after vascular reperfusion to determine whether this analysis can aid in predicting long-term quality of renal function, proteinuria, graft loss, and death-censored graft. We have built predictive models for proteinuria (area under the curve = 0.859, p = 0.0001) and graft loss (area under the curve = 0.724, p = 0.027) 2 years post-transplantation using clinical variables in combination with intragraft gene expression data of tumor necrosis factor–α, interleukin-6, CD40, CD3, and tumor necrosis factor–α, Bcl-2, and interferon-γ, respectively. This post hoc analysis demonstrates that hypothesis-driven, targeted polymerase chain reaction profiling of gene expression in the donor kidney at the time of engraftment can predict 2-year post-transplantation clinical outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]