Effect of Combination Therapy of Endothelin Receptor Antagonist and Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitor on Clinical Outcome and Pulmonary Haemodynamics in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis

Genetic screening in cohort of Egyptian patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension disease

BACKGROUND

Variants in the bone morphogenetic protein 2 receptor gene (BMPR2) are the most frequent genetic cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, correlation of BMPR2 variants and PAH clinical phenotype remains to be elucidated.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The goal of the present study is to investigate variants of the causative gene (BMPR2) in 25 Egyptian patients clinically pre-diagnosed with PAH symptoms and 10 healthy candidates using Sanger sequencing technique. Three pathogenic heterozygous missense variants have been illustrated in BMPR2 gene, two novel variants (V387E, E481K) in exon 9 and 11 respectively and one previously reported missense variant (C496G) in exon 11. The remaining 22 patients as well as the 10 healthy individuals showed no pathogenic variants.

CONCLUSION

Further studies on larger number of participants, using advanced NGS technique, should be performed to enrich information about genotype/phenotype correlations and incidence of PAH disease among Egyptian population; thus, it would provide families of PAH patients with accurate genetic counseling in order to prevent disease recurrence.

New Therapies in Outpatient Pulmonary Medicine

Newer medications and devices, as well as greater understanding of the benefits and limitations of existing treatments, have led to expanded treatment options for patients with lung disease. Treatment advances have led to improved outcomes for patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and cystic fibrosis. The risks and benefits of available treatments are substantially variable within these heterogeneous disease groups. Defining the role of newer therapies mandates both an understanding of these disorders and overall treatment approaches. This section will review general treatment approaches in addition to focusing on newer therapies for these conditions..

Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Anti-synthetase Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a serious condition in which there is an abnormally high pressure in the pulmonary arteries that can occur as a complication of connective tissue diseases. Although the relationship between PH and systemic lupus erythematosus or systemic sclerosis has been well-characterized, PH rarely occurs in patients with anti-synthetase syndrome (ASS), and little is known about the pathophysiology and clinical outcome of patients with ASS-PH. We herein report a patient with anti-Jo-1-positive ASS complicated by PH and discuss the treatment strategy through a review of previously reported cases.

Adherence and treatment patterns of disease-specific drugs among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension: A nationwide, new-user cohort study

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an incurable pulmonary disease that might result in right heart failure and death. Treatment guidelines recommend upfront or sequential combination therapy for patients with PAH. Recently, several PAH-targeted medications have been approved in Taiwan. This study aimed to investigate treatment patterns and medication adherence in real-world settings. Method: This was a new-user design study on patients treated with PAH-specific medication between 1 January 2014, and 31 December 2019. Data were extracted from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Medication adherence was evaluated by the proportion of days covered (PDC). Adherence was defined as PDC ≥ .8. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the study outcomes. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the association between baseline characteristics and adherence. P < .05 indicated statistical significance. Results: A total of 1,900 patients with PAH were identified, and 75.3% of them were females. The mean (standard deviation (SD)) age was 57.2 (17.5) years. Only 23 (1.2%) patients began the initial combination therapy. A total of 148 (7.8%) patients switched their initial treatment to another treatment, and 159 (8.4%) patients had sequential combination therapy. The most common combination therapy was endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) plus phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE5i), mostly macitentan plus sildenafil, for initial or sequential combination. The mean (SD) PDC was .71 (.33), and 1,117 (58.8%) patients were adherent. A significant difference in mean PDC was observed between initial ERA users and PDE5i users (p < .0001). No factor was significantly associated with medication adherence. Conclusion: Patients with PAH mostly initiated sildenafil as monotherapy, and macitentan was added as a sequential combination therapy. The initial ERA and combination groups showed higher medication adherence. Further investigations are needed to identify other factors associated with adherence.

Advances in the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension

The management of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has significantly evolved over the last decades in the wake of more sensitive diagnostics and specialized clinical programs that can provide focused medical care. In the current era of PAH care, 1-year survival rates have increased to 86%–90% from 65% in the 1980s, and average long-term survival has increased to 6 years from 2.8 years. The heterogeneity in the etiology and disease course has opened doors to focusing research in phenotyping the disease and understanding the pathophysiology at a cellular and genetic level. This may eventually lead to precision medicine and the development of medications that may prevent or reverse pulmonary vascular remodeling. With more insight, clinical trial designs and primary end-points may change to identify the true survival benefit of pharmacotherapy. Identifying responders from non-responders to therapy may help provide individualized patient-centered care rather than an algorithm-based approach. The purpose of this review is to highlight the latest advances in screening, diagnosis, and management of PAH.

Preventive effects of nitrate-rich beetroot juice supplementation on monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension in rats

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) has a high level of nitrate; therefore, its dietary intake could increase nitric oxide (NO) level in the body, possibly preventing the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH). In this study, we examined the effects of beetroot juice (BJ) supplementation on PH and the contribution of nitrate to such effects using a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT, 60 mg/kg s.c.)-induced PH. Rats were injected subcutaneously with saline or 60 mg/kg MCT and were sacrificed 28 days after the injection. In some rats injected with MCT, BJ was supplemented from the day of MCT injection to the day of sacrifice. First, MCT-induced right ventricular systolic pressure elevation, pulmonary arterial medial thickening and muscularization, and right ventricular hypertrophy were suppressed by supplementation with low-dose BJ (nitrate: 1.3 mmol/L) but not high-dose BJ (nitrate: 4.3 mmol/L). Of the plasma nitrite, nitrate, and their sum (NOx) levels, only the nitrate levels were found to be increased by the high-dose BJ supplementation. Second, in order to clarify the possible involvement of nitrate in the preventive effects of BJ on PH symptoms, the effects of nitrate-rich BJ (nitrate: 0.9 mmol/L) supplementation were compared with those of the nitrate-depleted BJ. While the former exerted preventive effects on PH symptoms, such effects were not observed in rats supplemented with nitrate-depleted BJ. Neither supplementation with nitrate-rich nor nitrate-depleted BJ affected plasma nitrite, nitrate, and NOx levels. These findings suggest that a suitable amount of BJ ingestion, which does not affect systemic NO levels, can prevent the development of PH in a nitrate-dependent manner. Therefore, BJ could be highly useful as a therapy in patients with PH.

Evidence synthesis in pulmonary arterial hypertension: a systematic review and critical appraisal

BACKGROUND

The clinical landscape of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has evolved in terms of disease definition and classification, trial designs, available therapies and treatment strategies as well as clinical guidelines. This study critically appraises published evidence synthesis studies, i.e. meta-analyses (MA) and network-meta-analyses (NMA), to better understand their quality, validity and discuss the impact of the findings from these studies on current decision-making in PAH.

METHODS

A systematic literature review to identify MA/NMA studies considering approved and available therapies for treatment of PAH was conducted. Embase, Medline and the Cochrane's Database of Systematic Reviews were searched from database inception to April 22, 2020, supplemented by searches in health technology assessment websites. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) checklist covering six domains (relevance, credibility, analysis, reporting quality and transparency, interpretation and conflict of interest) was selected for appraisal of the included MA/NMA studies.

RESULTS

Fifty-two full publications (36 MAs, 15 NMAs, and 1 MA/NMA) in PAH met the inclusion criteria. The majority of studies were of low quality, with none of the studies being scored as 'strong' across all checklist domains. Key limitations included the lack of a clearly defined, relevant decision problem, shortcomings in assessing and addressing between-study heterogeneity, and an incomplete or misleading interpretation of results.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first critical appraisal of published MA/NMA studies in PAH, suggesting low quality and validity of published evidence synthesis studies in this therapeutic area. Besides the need for direct treatment comparisons assessed in long-term randomized controlled trials, future efforts in evidence synthesis in PAH should improve analysis quality and scrutiny in order to meaningfully address challenges arising from an evolving therapeutic landscape.