pregabalin and Glioma

Patients with brain tumors and seizures should be treated with non-enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (AED). Some of the newer drugs seem particularly suited in these patients.. Here we describe our experience with pregabalin (PGB); its effectiveness was retrospectively studied in nine consecutive patients with primary brain tumors and seizures.. Six subjects had secondarily generalized and three simple partial seizures. Patients mostly suffered from WHO grade IV gliomas. PGB replaced enzyme inducing, inefficacious or bad tolerated AED, as add-on or monotherapy. Median follow-up was 5 (2-19) months; three patients died of their tumor. Daily median dosage was 300 mg. All subjects experienced at least a 50% seizure reduction, six were seizure-free. Side effects were reported in four patients, leading to PGB discontinuation in two.. PGB appears to have a promising effectiveness in this setting, even as a monotherapy. Based on these results we embarked on a prospective controlled trial.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Anticonvulsants; Brain Neoplasms; Epilepsies, Partial; Female; Follow-Up Studies; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; Glioma; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pregabalin; Retrospective Studies; Seizures; Treatment Outcome

Pregabalin and gabapentin are lipophilic amino acid derivatives of gamma-amino butyric acid that show anticonvulsant and analgesic activity against neuropathic pain. In this study, we investigated their actions on substance P-induced NF-kappaB activation in human neuroblastoma and rat glioma cells. Pregabalin and gabapentin decreased substance P-induced NF-kappaB activation in these cells. These drugs also inhibited NF-kappaB activation in rat spinal dorsal root ganglia cells pre-treated in vitro with substance P. These results suggest a previously undefined role of pregabalin and gabapentin in the regulation of inflammation-related intracellular signaling in both neuronal and glial cells.

Topics: Amines; Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; Gabapentin; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; Ganglia, Spinal; Glioma; Humans; Inflammation; Neuroblastoma; NF-kappa B; Pregabalin; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Signal Transduction; Substance P