tacrolimus and Coronary-Stenosis

The inhibitory action of the sirolimus-like agent everolimus on smooth muscle cell proliferation, evidenced in animal models, has triggered the interest in everolimus as stent coating for local inhibition of in-stent restenosis. For preclinical and clinical evaluation of safety and efficacy of an everolimus-eluting stent design, a new stent has recently been introduced by Biosensors International Inc, covered by a resorbable "composite" coating, that contains the immunosuppressive drug within a polyhydroxyacid biodegradable polymer matrix with roughly equal resorption rates. FUTURE I, the feasibility trial of this new stent concept, revealed a 30-day MACE (major adverse cardiac events) rate of 0% as well as a restenosis rate of 0% at 6-month follow-up in a total of 32 patients included. The more sensitive QCA (quantitative computerized analysis) and IVUS (intravascular ultrasound) parameters showed an 88% reduction of in-stent late loss and an 87% reduction of the neointimal volume. Adding a second feasibility trial including diabetics, the multicenter trial FUTURE II confirmed the initial beneficial findings of FUTURE I in a total of 64 patients in a 1 : 2 randomization to a bare metal control stent. Based on these results, the FUTURE program has now been expanded by Guidant with two large-scale multicenter studies, FUTURE III and IV, which evaluate this stent design in a larger patient population. Furthermore, FUTURE IV is addressed to demonstrate the non-inferiority of this stent concept in a head-to-head comparison to an approved drug-eluting stent (DES) concept. In contrast to everolimus, tacrolimus is a well-known potent antiproliferative agent, already used in various therapeutic areas. Preclinical studies on tacrolimus-eluting stents for treatment of native coronary artery lesions demonstrated safety and efficacy of this stent concept with significant reduction of neointimal proliferation within the implanted study stents. However, the clinical trial program of the first tacrolimus-eluting stent system in the treatment of native coronary lesions (PRESENT I, II) and saphenous vein graft lesions (EVIDENT) failed to prove the clinical benefit of the stent systems tested and demonstrated the impact of specific stent designs, especially the drug carrier characteristics, on the patient outcome. The progressive PRESET study, evaluating a directly coated tacrolimus-eluting stent, will provide important insights, that will clarify the potential of tacrolim

Topics: Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Animals; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Coated Materials, Biocompatible; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Coronary Vessels; Everolimus; Feasibility Studies; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Sirolimus; Stents; Structure-Activity Relationship; Tacrolimus; Treatment Outcome

The aim of this multicentre, non-randomised trial was to evaluate the safety and efficacy at 180+/-14 days of a pimecrolimus eluting coronary stent based on a cobalt-chromium platform and a poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) bioresorbable polymer.. Sixty-one patients, with single de novo coronary lesions <14 mm in length and a reference vessel diameter of 3.0 to 3.5 mm, were enrolled in five centres (Germany and Belgium). Angiography and IVUS were performed at baseline, post-procedure and 180+/-14 days later. The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 180+/-14 days and expected to be below 20%. Patients had single vessel disease in 59%, 2-vessel disease in 28% and 3-vessel disease in 13% of cases. MACE rate at 180+/-14 days was 18.0%. Binary in-stent restenosis was 32.7% due to in-stent late lumen loss of 1.11+/-0.65 mm by QCA. Stent thrombosis rate at 30+/-7 and 180+/-14 days was 1.6% and 3.3%, respectively. Overall TLR rate at 30+/-7, 180+/-14 days and 12+/-1 months was 1.6%, 27.9% and 32.8% respectively.. The primary endpoint was met at 180+/-14 days. However, the anti-restenotic effect of the pimecrolimus eluting stent did not reach levels similar to clinically established DES.

Topics: Aged; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Belgium; Cardiovascular Agents; Chromium Alloys; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Drug-Eluting Stents; Female; Germany; Humans; Lactic Acid; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction; Polyesters; Polymers; Prospective Studies; Prosthesis Design; Severity of Illness Index; Tacrolimus; Thrombosis; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonography, Interventional

The aim of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of a novel pimecrolimus-eluting stent in a porcine coronary model and in a phase I clinical trial.. Rapamycin- and paclitaxel-eluting stents reduce the need for repeat intervention by limiting neointimal hyperplasia but might cause delayed healing, pre-disposing patients to late stent thrombosis. Because inflammation plays a key role in restenosis, pimecrolimus, an anti-inflammatory drug, might reduce restenosis without adversely affecting re-endothelialization.. We evaluated a novel polymeric pimecrolimus-eluting stent covered with a thin parylene C diffusion barrier in a porcine coronary model and in a phase I human clinical trial. The clinical study was a prospective, nonrandomized, first-in-human hypothesis-generating study that enrolled 15 patients who had a single de novo native coronary stenosis.. At 28 days and 3 months in the porcine model, histopathologic indicators predicted safety and biocompatibility when stents coated with polymer only, drug only, and 2 drug-polymer formulations were compared with bare-metal stents (BMS). In the phase I clinical trial, 15 patients had successful implantation of pimecrolimus-eluting stents. By 6 months, no patient suffered death, myocardial infarction, or stent thrombosis. However, the angiographic restenosis (61%), mean late loss (1.44 mm), and repeat target lesion revascularization (53%) were significantly higher than historical BMS controls. Whereas the primary end point was percent volume obstruction, restenosis was so severe that operators performed intravascular ultrasound examination in only 6 patients.. Pimecrolimus-eluting stents induced an exaggerated neointimal hyperplasia at 6 months in comparison with historical controls.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Animals; Cardiovascular Agents; Coated Materials, Biocompatible; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Disease Models, Animal; Drug-Eluting Stents; Feasibility Studies; Female; Humans; Hyperplasia; Male; Middle Aged; New Zealand; Polymers; Prospective Studies; Prosthesis Design; Registries; Risk Assessment; Severity of Illness Index; Swine; Tacrolimus; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonography, Interventional; Xylenes

Previous multicenter, randomized trials, lacking standardized post-transplant protocols, have compared tacrolimus (Tac) and cyclosporine (CyA, Sandimmune) and demonstrated similar outcomes with some different adverse effects. The microemulsion form of CyA (mCyA, Neoral) has replaced Sandimmune CyA as the more widely utilized CyA formulation. This is the first 5-year follow-up study of a large, single-center trial (n = 67) under a standardized post-transplant protocol comparing Tac and mCyA.. Sixty-seven heart transplant patients were randomized to Tac (n = 33) or mCyA (n = 34), both in combination with corticosteroids and azathioprine without cytolytic induction. Five-year end-points included survival, Grade > or = 3A or treated rejection, angiographic cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV; any lesion > or = 30% stenosis), renal dysfunction (creatinine > or = 2.0 mg/dl), use of two or more anti-hypertensive medications, percent diabetic and lipid levels.. Five-year survival, freedom from Grade > or = 3A or any treated rejection and angiographic CAV, mean cholesterol level and percent diabetic were similar between the two groups. The Tac group had a significantly lower 5-year mean triglyceride level (Tac 97 +/- 34 vs mCyA 175 +/- 103 mg/dl, p = 0.011) and average serum creatinine level (Tac 1.2 +/- 0.5 mg/dl vs mCyA 1.5 +/- 0.4 mg/dl, p = 0.044). There was a trend toward fewer patients requiring two or more anti-hypertensive drugs in the Tac group (Tac 33% vs mCyA 59%, p = 0.065).. Tac and mCyA appear to be comparable with regard to 5-year survival, freedom from rejection and CAV. However, compared with mCyA, Tac appears to reduce the adverse effect profile for hypertriglyceridemia and renal dysfunction and the need for hypertensive medications.

Topics: Adult; Antihypertensive Agents; Coronary Stenosis; Cyclosporine; Emulsions; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Graft Rejection; Graft Survival; Heart Diseases; Heart Transplantation; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertriglyceridemia; Immunosuppressive Agents; Kidney Diseases; Male; Middle Aged; Survival Analysis; Tacrolimus; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome

We sought to evaluate the safety and performance of the Janus Tacrolimus-Eluting stent (TES) in an unselected population of patients, without application of restrictive clinical or angiographic criteria.. Continued attention to the safety, efficacy, and deliverability of first-generation drug eluting stents has led to the development of new antiproliferative agents with alternative stent platforms and different drug carrier vehicles.. The TEST (Tacrolimus Eluting STent) registry is a prospective, nonrandomized single-center registry in which 140 consecutive patients who underwent single- or multi-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention between February 2005 and August 2005 were enrolled.. The composite rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 22 months clinical follow-up was 40.9%. The rate of mortality, myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization (TLR) were 5.5%, 11%, and 31.5%, respectively. Angiographic follow-up at 8 months was achieved in 74% of patients; binary restenosis occurred in 39.4% of lesions. Most restenosis lesions (94.6%) had a diffuse pattern, while focal restenosis was observed in 5.4% of cases. Definite or probable stent thrombosis was observed in 2.4% of patients.. The present prospective, nonrandomized, TEST registry indicated high MACE and restenosis rates, and thereby rather discouraging long-term outcomes with use of the Janus TES in an unselected "real world" population of patients who underwent single- or multi-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention.

Topics: Aged; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Cardiovascular Agents; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Drug-Eluting Stents; Female; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction; Prospective Studies; Prosthesis Design; Registries; Risk Assessment; Tacrolimus; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome

Topics: Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Cardiovascular Agents; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Drug-Eluting Stents; Humans; Myocardial Infarction; Prosthesis Design; Risk Assessment; Tacrolimus; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome

To report the 4-month angiographic and 6-month clinical follow-up in first-in-man study using the tacrolimus-eluting bioabsorbable polymer-coated cobalt-chromium MAHOROBA stent.. A total of 47 patients with either stable angina or unstable angina, or silent myocardial ischaemia, based on a de novo coronary stenosis that could be covered by a single 18 mm stent in a native coronary artery with a diameter between 3.0 and 3.5 mm were enrolled at three sites. The primary endpoint was in-stent late loss at 4 months. The secondary endpoints include %volume obstruction of the stents assessed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) at 4 months and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 6 months. Forty-seven patients were enrolled. Procedural success was achieved in 97.9%. At 4-month follow-up, in-stent late loss was 0.99 +/- 0.46 mm, whereas in-stent %volume obstruction in IVUS was 34.8 +/- 15.8%. At 6 months, there were no deaths, but 2 patients suffered from a myocardial infarction and 11 patients required ischaemia-driven repeat revascularization. The composite MACE rate was 23.4%.. This tacrolimus-eluting stent failed to prevent neointimal hyperplasia, despite the theoretical advantages of the tacrolimus, which has less inhibitory effects on endothelial cells than smooth muscle cells.

Topics: Absorbable Implants; Aged; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Coronary Angiography; Coronary Stenosis; Drug-Eluting Stents; Feasibility Studies; Female; Humans; Hyperplasia; Immunosuppressive Agents; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Tacrolimus; Thrombosis; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Tunica Intima; Ultrasonography, Interventional

Topics: Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Animals; Cardiovascular Agents; Coated Materials, Biocompatible; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Drug-Eluting Stents; Humans; Hyperplasia; Polymers; Prosthesis Design; Risk Assessment; Severity of Illness Index; Tacrolimus; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Xylenes

The long-term effectiveness of drug-eluting stents (DES) in unselected diabetics in routine practice is currently unclear.. To evaluate the long-term effectiveness of bare metal stents and DES in a real-world setting of diabetic patients, we analyzed 2-year follow-up data from all diabetic patients with de novo lesions enrolled in a prospective Web-based multicenter registry (Registro Regionale Angioplastiche dell'Emilia-Romagna; study period, 2002 to 2004) comprising all 13 hospitals performing percutaneous coronary interventions in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Among the 1648 eligible patients treated with either bare metal stents alone (n=1089) or DES alone (n=559), 27% were insulin dependent and 83% had multivessel coronary disease. At 2 years, use of DES was associated with lower crude incidence of major adverse cardiac advents (all-cause mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization) compared with bare metal stents (22.5% versus 28.1%; P=0.01). After propensity score adjustment, only target vessel revascularization appeared significantly lower in the DES group (11.6% versus 15.0%; hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.46 to 0.96; P=0.041). Two-year angiographic stent thrombosis occurred in 1.5% DES patients and 0.7% of the bare-metal-stents patients (P=0.18). At Cox regression analysis, predictors of 2-year major adverse cardiac advents were left ventricular ejection fraction <35%, Charlson comorbidity index, insulin-dependent diabetes, and total lesion length.. In this large, real-world, diabetic population, the use of DES was associated with a moderate reduction in the 2-year risk of target vessel revascularization, a benefit that was limited to non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients. Larger long-term studies are needed to clarify the long-term effectiveness and safety of such devices in diabetic patients.

Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; Combined Modality Therapy; Comorbidity; Coronary Restenosis; Coronary Stenosis; Coronary Thrombosis; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetic Angiopathies; Female; Humans; Insulin; Italy; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction; Prospective Studies; Registries; Risk Factors; Sirolimus; Stents; Tacrolimus; Treatment Outcome

The interaction of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1)-positive host leukocytes with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on graft endothelium may play a key role in allograft recognition, triggering the development of transplant vasculopathy (TVP). We investigated the correlation between TVP and ICAM-1 expression and accumulation of LFA-1-positive leukocytes in the perivascular space (PVS) of arteries under different immunosuppressive drugs.. After cardiac transplantation (Lewis to Fisher) animals were randomized 4 groups: cyclosporine (CsA), 3 mg/kg/day (n=74); mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), 40 mg/kg/day (n=96); FK 506, 0.3 mg/kg/day (n=96); and control, no therapy (n=74). Three or 4 animals from each group were harvested at intervals of 1 to 4 days within the study period of 60 days. Using immunohistochemistry, LFA-1-positive leukocytes were analyzed in intra- and epicardial arteries. ICAM-1 expression was scored histologically. TVP was assessed by digitizing morphometry and expressed as mean vascular occlusion.. Accumulation of LFA-1-positive leukocytes in the PVS of arteries and the myocardium correlated with expression of ICAM-1 on graft endothelium. The severity of TVP in arteries correlated with the accumulation of LFA-1-positive leukocytes in PVS. All immunosuppressive drugs significantly reduced ICAM-1 expression, LFA-1 accumulation and extent of TVP, compared with controls. In MMF-treated animals, we also found a significant reduction of ICAM-1 expression, LFA-1 accumulation and extent of TVP compared with the groups treated with CsA and FK 506 (p <0.005).. These data support an essential role of LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction in the genesis of TVP that may be abrogated, especially by the use of MMF.

Topics: Animals; CD11a Antigen; Coronary Stenosis; Coronary Vessels; Cyclosporine; Heart Transplantation; Immunosuppressive Agents; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1; Leukocytes; Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1; Mycophenolic Acid; Myocardium; Rats; Rats, Inbred F344; Rats, Inbred Lew; Tacrolimus