ABSTRACT
The bacterium responsible for causing tuberculosis is increasing its resistance to antibiotics resulting in new multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis (XDR-TB) strains. In this study, several analytical techniques including NMR, FT-ICR, MALDI-MS, and LCMS are used to study different aspects of the Copperpolyethylene glycol (PEG)Amikacin complex. The Cu(II) cation and the aggregate formed by PEG serve as a carrier for the antibiotic. Several CuPEGAmikacin complex variations were tested against NIH-NIAID cell lines containing both resistant and nonresistant strains of M. tuberculosis.
Subject(s)
Amikacin/chemistry , Coordination Complexes/chemistry , Copper/chemistry , Polyethylene Glycols/chemistry , Coordination Complexes/pharmacology , Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial/drug effects , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Molecular Conformation , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/drug effectsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To report our experience of high-dose interleukin-2 immunotherapy for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) on haemodialysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two anephric patients with metastatic RCC on haemodialysis received interleukin-2 (600,000 IU/kg) every 8 h for a maximum of 14 doses. The patients rested for 9 days and cycles were repeated as tolerated. A nephrologist followed the patients during treatment and they received nearly daily haemodialysis. RESULTS: These two cases were treated with high-dose interleukin-2 and had no unusual toxicity or adverse events. The first patient tolerated five, five, four, four and one dose of interleukin-2 over five cycles. He had a partial response to treatment with a decrease in size of a mediastinal mass, but ultimately developed progressive disease and died 32 months later. The second patient had four cycles of interleukin-2 (13, 13, 14 and nine doses). He initially maintained stable disease throughout treatment, but the disease ultimately progressed and he died 19 months later. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend considering high-dose interleukin-2 immunotherapy in highly selected dialysis patients with metastatic RCC. Further study is required to determine the safety, efficacy and optimum dosing in this group.
