Health technology assessment of pathogen reduction technologies applied to plasma for clinical use

Although existing clinical evidence shows that the transfusion of blood components is becoming increasingly safe, the risk of transmission of known and unknown pathogens, new pathogens or re-emerging pathogens still persists. Pathogen reduction technologies may offer a new approach to increase blood safety. The study is the output of collaboration between the Italian National Blood Centre and the Post-Graduate School of Health Economics and Management, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. A large, multidisciplinary team was created and divided into six groups, each of which addressed one or more HTA domains.Plasma treated with amotosalen + UV light, riboflavin + UV light, methylene blue or a solvent/detergent process was compared to fresh-frozen plasma with regards to current use, technical features, effectiveness, safety, economic and organisational impact, and ethical, social and legal implications. The available evidence is not sufficient to state which of the techniques compared is superior in terms of efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness. Evidence on efficacy is only available for the solvent/detergent method, which proved to be non-inferior to untreated fresh-frozen plasma in the treatment of a wide range of congenital and acquired bleeding disorders. With regards to safety, the solvent/detergent technique apparently has the most favourable risk-benefit profile. Further research is needed to provide a comprehensive overview of the cost-effectiveness profile of the different pathogen-reduction techniques. The wide heterogeneity of results and the lack of comparative evidence are reasons why more comparative studies need to be performed

Novel Sulfamide-Containing Compounds as Selective Carbonic Anhydrase I Inhibitors

The development of isoform selective inhibitors of the carbonic anhydrase (CA; EC 4.2.1.1) enzymes represents the key approach for the successful development of druggable small molecules. Herein we report a series of new benzenesulfamide derivatives (-NH-SO2NH2) bearing the 1-benzhydrylpiperazine tail and connected by means of a β-alanyl or nipecotyl spacer. All compounds 6a–l were investigated in vitro for their ability to inhibit the physiological relevant human (h) CA isoforms such as I, II, IV and IX. Molecular modeling provided further structural support to enzyme inhibition data and structure-activity relationship. In conclusion the hCA I resulted the most inhibited isoform, whereas all the remaining ones showed different inhibition profiles

Bioorganometallic derivatives of 4-hydrazino-benzenesulphonamide as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: synthesis, characterisation and biological evaluation

A series of bio-organometallic-hydrazones of the general formula [{(η5-C5H4)-C(R)=N–N(H)-C6H4-4-SO2NH2}]MLn(MLn = Re(CO)3, Mn(CO)3, FeCp; R=H, CH3) were prepared by reaction of formyl/acetyl organometallic precursors with 4-hydrazino-benzenesulphonamide. All compounds were characterized by conventional spectroscopic techniques (infra-red, 1H and 13C NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis). Biological evaluation as carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) inhibitors agents was carried out using four human/h) isoforms, hCA I, II, IX and XII. The cytosolic isoforms hCA I and II were effectively inhibited by almost all derivatives with inhibition constants of 1.7–22.4 nM. Similar effects were observed for the tumour-associated transmembrane isoform hCA XII (KIs of 1.9–24.4 nM). hCA IX was less sensitive to inhibition with these compounds. The presence of bio-organometallic or metallo-carbonyl moieties in the molecules of these CAIs makes them amenable for interesting pharmacologic applications, for example for compounds with CO donating properties