Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:1 Issue: 4, Dec 2015

Statins have been used for decades as a successful cholesterol-lowering class of medicines. Statins are widely prescribed for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. They reduce cardiovascular risk and improve health outcomes in people with cardiovascular disease. Although statins are considered as a safe medicine and well tolerated by patients, prediction of individual patient’s response to statin therapy remains unclear. Variation to statin therapy has been attributed to both environmental and genetic factors. In this review, a number of candidates gene that affect statin pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics are discussed. Moreover, the association of demographic factors with statin response in related studies is described. We reviewed the literature concerning pharmacogenetic studies on statin response. 50 English-language clinical trials, prospective or retrospective human investigations, case series, case reports, published between 1998 to2015, were evaluated.  Based on these data, there are some candidate genes that have been established as affecting genes on statin efficacy and suggest that drug therapy based on individuals' genetic makeup may result in a clinically important reduction in variation of statin response.

The contemporary trends and concepts in pharmacy are widely affected by the emergence of Nano-, Bio- or Info- technologies (NBI) as an attempt to develop different principles of medicine. This commentary is trying to make a think tank room for 50 years ahead of pharmacy where the ambience of pharmacy will be affected by such technologies (NBI) together with cognition (NBIC) to achieve intelligence, low adverse reaction and holistic action medicals.

Evidences suggest that besides the neurotransmitters contributing to the development of depression, renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may also have a substantial role. Certain polymorphisms of RAS are associated with over activity of RAS & depression. Considering that antidepressants reduce the actions of angiotensin II, the main product of RAS, this may come into mind that genetic polymorphisms of the mentioned system may affect the outcome of therapy in depressed patients.In the present study, 100 newly diagnosed depressed patients, according to DSM-IV criteria, were treated with 20 mg of fluoxetine for 8-12 weeks. Patients were categorized into responsive and non-responsive groups according to 50% reduction in symptoms. Genotype frequencies of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene [ACE (I/D, A-240T and A2350G)] were then determined in DNAs extracted from venous blood of the patients using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR– RFLP) and PCR.Results indicate that polymorphisms studied and their haplotypes were not associated with better response to fluoxetine. However, a strong association between age and treatment in depressed Iranian patients was observed (P=0.001).In conclusion, unlike previous reports, this study does not support the hypothesis of special genotypes of RAS contributing to a better response to antidepressants in depressed patients.

A drug dosage form contains excipients as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Formerly excipients were considered as inert components which were used by a formulator to provide suitable volume, weight and consistency of a dosage form. Today however, excipients are expected to perform multifunctional roles such as enhancing physical, chemical and microbial stability of the dosage form, improving the color or odor of the formulation and influencing the release and bioavailability of the active ingredient. Among various excipients, natural ones seem to be more beneficial to use, since they are economical, safe, biodegradable and biocompatible. In this article, Myrrh oleo- gum- rein is introduced as a potential natural multipurpose excipient that can perform many useful roles in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Scopus and Google scholar electronic databases were searched to find different properties of myrrh as an excipient. Also ten famous traditional Iranian medicine books were studied to find semisolid formulations named Sabgh which contained myrrh. One of these formulations was prepared and its physical and microbiological stability was assessed. The role of myrrh as an excipient in this formulation was discussed.  Antibacterial and preservative effects shown in the formulation were related to the essential oils of myrrh. The gum portion was found to be a potential surfactant. In addition, myrrh is a natural muco-adhesive and film forming material. These properties were observed for myrrh in the Sabgh formulated in this study as well. So we can conclude that myrrh can be a potential multipurpose excipient in pharmaceutical industries which needs further research.

Collagenase is one the important enzyme, which is applied in varied fields ranging from tannery, food and cosmetic industries to clinical therapies. Currently, the commercially available collagenase enzyme has been produced by Clostridium histolyticum bacteria. In our study, in order to find new sources of collagenase producer, 30 collagenases from different species of Clostridium, Vibrio and Bacillus were evaluated from the view of phylogenetic relation, domain architecture and Physiochemical features. Totally our results indicate that the non-pathogenic C. novyi (NT) with the aliphatic index (80.68), instability index (27), pI (6.54), Mw (112.838 kDa) and two PPC domain could be suggested as potent bacteria for industrial production of collagenase.

Understanding the geometry, electronic properties of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and the nature of their interactions with human cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is important in development and design of novel NSAIDs. In this paper, B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p) level of theory was applied to assess acidity of NSAIDs in the gas phase. Subsequently, the role of intramolecular hydrogen bond on acidity of these compounds was confirmed by means of natural bond orbital (NBO) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules analyses (QTAIM). Furthermore, by applying the polarized continuum model (PCM) at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level, the pKa value of NSAIDs in aqueous solution has been calculated. The maximum error was found to be less than 0.1 pKa unit in comparison with the experimental value. This protocol can be used as a tool to predict pKa values of NSAIDs in future studies. In the last step, attempts have been made to generate a functional model of the structure of human COX-2 enzyme by means of homology modeling to gain more insight to the nature of interactions between NSAIDs and the active site of this COX-2 enzyme by docking studies. In addition, a mean binding energy for each drug was estimated based on its ionization ratio.

Metronidazole is a main stay of modern multidrug therapies for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Metronidazole resistance reduces the effectiveness of these combinations. Various methods have been used for the determination of the sensitivity of H. pylori to metronidazole with conflicting results. The aims of this study were: 1) to compare the E-Test and disk diffusion methods for determining the susceptibility of H. pylori to metronidazole; and 2) Metronidazole resistance in H. pylori has been found to be associated with mutations in rdxA. The role of this gene in metronidazole resistance in H. pylori was examined in this study. A total of 46 H. pylori strains from 223 consecutive patients were examined. The E-Test was performed according to the manufacturer's guidelines, and the disk diffusion according to standard procedure using 5-μg metronidazole disks. DNA was extracted from all H. pylori isolates by boiling & phenol-chloroform methods and then Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed.  Metronidazole resistance as determined by E-test and disk diffusion methods was 64.3% and 47.6% respectively. None of the resistant or sensitive samples possessed rdxA gene deletion. Disk diffusion method is not reliable in determining metronidazole resistance in H. pylori. An intact rdxA gene has also been reported in metronidazole-resistant H. pylori, suggesting that additional metronidazole resistance mechanisms exist in H. pylori and even molecular methods are not reliable for the detection of resistance.

Cyclophosphamide is a chemo-therapeutic agent in the treatment of the various cancers and autoimmune diseases. This composition has cytotoxic and clastogenic properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, protective effect of methanol extracts of thymus vulgaris against DNA damage induced by cyclophosphamide in mouse bone marrow cells by the micronucleus test.

In this study, the concentrations of extracts 375, 750, 1500 mg/kg body weight (bw) were injected intraperitoneally (ip), into mice for seven consecutive days. One hour after the last injection, cyclophosphamide 50 mg/kg bw intraperitoneally (ip) have been injected into mice. 24h after cyclophosphamide injection, the animals were sacrificed and samples of bone marrow were prepared and stained using standard methods. For each sample, 1000 cells of polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) and the same frequence of normochromatic erythrocyte (NCE) and cells containing micronucleus of these were counted.

Cyclophosphamide increased the frequency of micronuclei polychromatic erythrocytes (MnPCE) and decreased cell proliferation (PCE/PCE+NCE). All doses of extracts significantly reduced the micronucleus frequency ratio (P<0.05). The cells proliferation ratio (PCE/PCE+NCE) also increased. The best effect in reducing the micronucleus frequency was 1500 mg/kg bw dosage.

Thymus extract is able to reduce the clastogenic and cytotoxic effects of cyclophosphamide, seems to extract due to its antioxidant properties, has a protective role.