Pumactant abolishes early asthmatic response in patients with allergic asthma

Babu, K. S., Woodcock, D., Smith, S. E., Heminsley, A. M., Little, L., Staniforth, J. N., Holgate, S. T. and Conway, J. H. (2002) Pumactant abolishes early asthmatic response in patients with allergic asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 165 (Supplement), p.A216.

Abstract

Rationale: It is postulated that there exists a physical barrier in the lung which prevents the interaction of inhaled allergen with the epithelial lining of the airways and endogenous surfactant is a constituent of this barrier. Pulmonary surfactant abnormalities have been observed in asthmatic subjects and allergen challenge induces alteration in endogenous surfactant. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of an exogenous surfactant on the early and late asthmatic responses (EAR & LAR).
Methods: Randomized, single-blind, cross-over study. Seven, mild, allergic asthmatic subjects (18-60 yr) with an EAR and LAR to a specific inhaled allergen were enrolled. The active treatment involved 2 doses of 400mgs of pumactant (respirable dose 100mg as a novel dry powder inhalation-dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and unsaturated phosphatidyl glycerol) given at 8 and 0.5 hrs prior to allergen BPT through an administration device. The placebo treatment involved exactly the same procedure but empty vials were used instead. The 2 treatment days were separated by 3 weeks.
Results: Pumactant abolished the EAR in all 7 subjects. The mean AUC for 0-2 hours following BPT was 0.08 (SEM=1.66) for pumactant and 13.29 (SEM=4.28) with placebo (p=0.006). The mean AUC for 3-10 hours with pumactant was 11 (SEM=4.51) and 17.35 (SEM=3.40) for placebo (p=0.16). The mean percentage reduction in FEV1 for the early response was 4.19% with pumactant and 29.68% with placebo (p<0.001). Pumactant was well tolerated with no adverse events.
Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate the effect of pumactant in blocking the EAR in allergen induced asthma. Pumactant could prove an effective therapeutic target in the management of asthma.

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Contributors

Author: J. H. Conway

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