Comparative effectiveness of indacaterol/glycopyrronium in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Comparative studies of dual bronchodilation in COPD

Dual bronchodilation therapy is becoming the cornerstone for the treatment of COPD because the clinical benefits of LABA/LAMA fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) are now extensively established. Therefore, it not surprising that a number of LAMA/LABA combinations in a single inhaler have now been approved for clinical use as treatments for patients with COPD. Regrettably, very few head-to-head studies between all of the available LABA/LAMA FDCs have been carried out. This makes choosing the most appropriate FDC difficult. Comparative effectiveness research that also uses conventional meta-analyses to compare different care strategies can help generate useful information. A bidimensional comparative analysis across LAMA/LABA FDCs has suggested constant superiority for tiotropium/olodaterol. However, considering that there is not an equivalent amount of evidence on efficacy outcomes for all LAMA/LABA FDCs, a proper comparison between the different LAMA/LABA FDCs cannot be made yet, and the information available is still rather inconsistent.

Organic Cation Transporters (OCTs) in EpiAirway™, A Cellular Model of Normal Human Bronchial Epithelium

Organic cation transporters (OCTs) and novel organic cation transporters (OCTNs) are responsible for drug delivery in the intestine and kidney; in the lung, OCTs mediate inhaled drugs’ transport, although their physiological role in airways remains poorly understood. The studies addressing OCTs/OCTNs in human airways were mostly performed in immortal or transformed cell lines; here, we studied OCTs in EpiAirway™, a recently developed in vitro model of normal bronchial epithelium. Calu-3 monolayers were used for comparison. The activity of OCTs was evaluated by measuring the uptake of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP⁺) at the apical and basolateral side of monolayers and protein expression through Western Blot analysis. OCTs and OCTNs expression, along with that of Amino acid Transporter B^0,+ (ATB^0,+)transporter, was determined by measuring the number of mRNA molecules through quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR). The interaction of the transporters with bronchodilators was also assessed. Results highlight significant differences between Calu-3 cells and EpiAirway™, since, in the latter, OCTs are active only on the basolateral membrane where they interact with the bronchodilator ipratropium. No activity of OCTs is detectable at the apical side; there, the most abundant carrier is, instead, SLC6A14/ATB^0,+, that can thus be potentially listed among organic cation transporters responsible for drug delivery in the lung.