Agent Used To Treat Brain Infarction Might Be Useful For Lung Injury

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Cystic Fibrosis
Article Date: 30 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT


The average mortality rate of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is estimated to be 50.8 per 1,000,000 people per year. The mortality rate is now higher than recent mortality rates for a number of malignancies.

Although IPF should no longer be considered a rare disease, there is no established treatment that definitely improves its outcome. Furthermore, about 10% of IPF causes a very rapid progression called "acute exacerbation". The mortality rate of acute exacerbation of IPF is approximately 80%. Thus new therapies are awaited based on new understanding of the pathogenesis of IPF.

Other authors have shown that acetylcysteine, a precursor of the major antioxidant glutathione, preserves lung function in patients with IPF better than traditional therapy. These findings suggest that an oxidant - antioxidant imbalance may contribute to the disease process in IPF.

Shunji Tajima (Niigata University, Japan) and colleagues used a bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis model in mice, which is a common animal lung fibrosis model. The authors examined a unique potent free- radical scavenger, named edaravone, being clinically used to treat acute brain infarction in Japan, in order to investigate its ability to inhibit lung injury and/or fibrosis. Edaravone is already widely used in Japan with few side-effects.

This study shows that one administration of 300 mg/kg of edaravone significantly improved the survival rate, reduced lung inflammation, and attenuated reactive oxygen species and lung fibrosis. The results suggest that edaravone might not show a therapeutic effect on chronic fibrotic lung diseases such as IPF, but that it may have a preventive effect in the very accelerated phases of interstitial lung diseases, such as acute exacerbation of IPF.

In summary, edaravone could be a promising drug for fatal interstitial lung diseases, such as acute exacerbation of IPF, acute interstitial pneumonia associated with collagen vascular diseases, or chemotherapy-related toxicity. The safest dose, the most effective administration route and the optimum time for edaravone therapy should also be determined.

TITLE OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Effects of edaravone, a free radical scavenger, on bleomycin-induced lung injury in mice.

The European Respiratory Journal

The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 8,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and Australia).

http://erj.ersjournals.com

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