Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia ; Factor Xa Inhibitors/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/adverse effects* ; Rivaroxaban/adverse effects* ; Singapore ; Treatment Outcome

Animals ; Aquaporins/metabolism* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Glycoproteins/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Lung/metabolism* ; Protective Agents/pharmacology* ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome/physiopathology* ; Sus scrofa ; Trypsin Inhibitors/pharmacology* ; Up-Regulation

Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors are a class of ubiquitous protease inhibitors, which play important roles in various life activities. The structures of such inhibitors are generally stable, and are usually characterized by the presence of one or several Kunitz domains in tandem, which are able to bind to serine proteases in a manner similar to substrate binding, thereby inhibiting enzyme activity. In terms of function, Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors are involved in processes such as blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, tumor immunity, inflammation regulation, and resistance to bacterial and fungal infections. This article summarizes the advances of Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors and provides new ideas for the development of novel Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors.
Protease Inhibitors ; Serine Proteases ; Serine Proteinase Inhibitors

Objective: This analysis was performed to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of rivaroxaban-aspirin combination therapy in secondary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in Chinese patients enrolled in the COMPASS trial. Methods: COMPASS was a prospective, international multi-center and randomized controlled trial. From September 2014 to February 2017, 1 086 patients with stable coronary artery disease and peripheral artery diseases were recruited from 31 centers in China. Patients were randomly assigned to separately receive the therapy of rivaroxaban (2.5 mg twice a day) plus aspirin (100 mg once a day,) group (n=366), rivaroxaban (5 mg twice a day) alone group (n=365), and aspirin (100 mg once a day) alone group (n=355). Baseline information such as age, sex, etc. of all three groups was collected. Finally, 1 081 patients were followed up successfully, with the follow-up rate 99.5% and the average follow-up time was 19 months. The primary efficacy endpoint was the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and stroke. The primary safety endpoint was major bleeding evaluated by modified International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria. Results: Age of patients was (64.2±8.3) years and there were 293 male in rivaroxaban plus aspirin group. Age of patients was (63.8±9.0) years, and there were 301 male patients in rivaroxaban alone group. Age of patients was (63.6±8.8) years, and there were 282 male patients in the aspirin alone group. The incidences of primary efficacy endpoint occurred in 9 cases (1.5%) in rivaroxaban with aspirin group, 21 cases (3.7%) in rivaroxaban alone group and 14 cases (2.5%) in aspirin alone group. Meanwhile, the incidences of primary safety endpoint occurred in 6 cases (1.0%) in rivaroxaban with aspirin group, 9 cases (1.6%) in rivaroxaban alone group and 7 cases (1.2%) in aspirin alone group. The net clinical benefit events were 10 cases (1.7%) in rivaroxaban with aspirin group, 22 cases (3.9%) in rivaroxaban alone group and 15 cases (2.7%) in aspirin alone group (P>0.5%). Conclusions: The combination of rivaroxaban with aspirin can be safe and effectively used for the secondary prevention in Chinese patients with stable coronary artery disease and peripheral artery diseases.
Aged ; Aspirin/therapeutic use* ; Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control* ; China ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Factor Xa Inhibitors/therapeutic use* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/therapeutic use* ; Prospective Studies ; Rivaroxaban/therapeutic use* ; Secondary Prevention

Anticoagulants ; Antithrombins/therapeutic use* ; Coronary Disease ; Heparin ; Hirudins ; Humans ; Peptide Fragments ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Recombinant Proteins ; Treatment Outcome

Abdominal Injuries ; Antithrombins/adverse effects* ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Dabigatran/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Thoracic Injuries

BACKGROUND: Low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is the standard treatment for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with active cancer. However, use of factor Xa inhibitors, such as rivaroxaban, is increasing on the basis of limited clinical evidence. The present single-center study compared the incidence of bleeding and other treatment outcomes in gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary cancer (GI tract cancer) patients administered rivaroxaban or LMWH for the treatment of VTE. METHODS: Retrospective data from 281 GI tract cancer patients who were treated for VTE with rivaroxaban (n = 78) or LMWH (n = 203) between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016, were analyzed. Primary end-point was the incidence of major and clinically relevant bleeding. Secondary outcomes included the incidence of recurrent VTE and mortality. RESULTS: Clinically relevant bleeding occurred in 19 patients (24.4%) in the rivaroxaban group and 31 (15.3%) in the LMWH group (P = 0.074). No inter-group difference was observed for rate of VTE recurrence (3.8% with rivaroxaban vs. 3.9% with LMWH; P > 0.999) or incidence of major bleeding (5.1% with rivaroxaban vs. 8.9% with LMWH; P = 0.296). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis for age, cancer type, metastasis, history of chemotherapy or recent surgery, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status revealed a 1.904-fold higher risk of bleeding with rivaroxaban than LMWH (1.031–3.516; P = 0.040). No significant inter-group difference was found in terms of hazard ratio for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSION: Compared to LMWH, rivaroxaban was associated with a higher incidence of clinically relevant bleeding in GI tract cancer patients presenting with VTE.
Colorectal Neoplasms ; Drug Therapy ; Factor Xa Inhibitors ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Hemorrhage ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Rivaroxaban ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Venous Thromboembolism

In canine acute pancreatitis (AP), inappropriate release and activation of zymogen proteases within the pancreas results in the consumption of serum antiproteases. The aim of this study was to examine whether the serum concentrations of α₂-macroglobulin (A2MG), α₁-antitrypsin (A1AT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) differ between dogs with AP and healthy dogs. Twenty healthy dogs and 20 dogs with AP were included in this study. Concentrations of A2MG, A1AT, and CRP were measured in the sera of healthy dogs and dogs diagnosed with AP. Serum A2MG and A1AT concentrations were significantly lower in dogs with AP than in healthy dogs, whereas the serum CRP concentration was significantly higher. In addition, the concentrations of A2MG and A1AT were significantly higher in AP survivors than in AP non-survivors, while the CRP concentration was significantly lower. However, in both AP survivors and non-survivors, the CRP concentrations showed a negative correlation with A2MG concentrations but not with A1AT. These findings indicate that serum antiproteases and CRP concentrations might be associated with the mortality rate of AP in dogs.
Animals ; C-Reactive Protein ; Dogs ; Humans ; Mortality ; Pancreas ; Pancreatitis ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Protease Inhibitors ; Survivors ; Trypsin

PURPOSE: Comparisons of rhythm and rate control strategies for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are still inconclusive. We compared differences in clinical outcomes between the rhythm and rate control strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The COmparison study of Drugs for symptom control and complication prEvention of Atrial Fibrillation (CODE-AF) registry prospectively enrolled 6000 patients who were treated for AF using real-world guideline adherence at multiple referral centers. In total, 2508 (41.8%) patients were clinically followed up for over six months. Of these, 1134 (45.2 %) patients treated by rhythm control and 1374 (54.8 %) patients treated by rate control were analyzed for clinical outcomes, including stroke and cardiovascular outcomes. RESULTS: Among all patients (age, 68±10 years; male, 62.4%), those treated with the rhythm control strategy were significantly younger, had more symptomatic paroxysmal AF, and a shorter AF duration, and were less likely to have diabetes, renal dysfunction, and heart failure, compared to those treated with the rate control strategy (CHA₂DS₂-VASc score 2.4±1.5 vs. 3.1±1.7, p < 0.001). Even though oral anticoagulation was similarly prescribed in both groups, occurrence of stroke was less likely to occur in the rhythm control strategy group (0.0% vs. 0.7%, p=0.015). Multivariate Cox hazard regression showed that only age, especially more than 75 years old, were significantly correlated with the occurrence of stroke, regardless of the strategy used for treatment. CONCLUSION: In this prospective AF cohort, compared with the rate control strategy, the rhythm control strategy was associated with fewer cardiovascular events and strokes in a short-term period.
Administration, Oral ; Aged ; Antithrombins/administration & dosage/therapeutic use ; Atrial Fibrillation/drug therapy/*physiopathology ; Female ; Heart Rate/*physiology ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies ; Stroke/drug therapy/*etiology/*physiopathology ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: Early application of protease inhibitors through the intestinal lumen could increase survival following experimental shock by blocking the pancreatic digestive enzymes. Hence, it was hypothesized that two-route injection (intraintestinal + intravenous) of ulinastatin (UTI), a broad-spectrum protease inhibitor, could better alleviate intestinal injury than single-route injection (either intravenous or intraintestinal). METHODS: A sepsis model induced by lipopolysaccharide on rats was established. The rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham, sepsis, UTI intravenous injection (Uiv), UTI intraintestinal injection (Uii), and UTI intraintestinal + intravenous injection (Uii + Uiv) groups. The mucosal barrier function, enzyme-blocking effect, levels of systemic inflammatory cytokines, and 5-day survival rate were compared among groups. The small intestinal villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), and two components of mucosal barrier (E-cadherin and mucin-2) were measured to evaluate the mucosal barrier function. The levels of trypsin and neutrophil elastase (NE) in the intestine, serum, and vital organs were measured to determine the enzyme-blocking effect. RESULTS: Compared with the single-route injection group (Uiv or Uii), the two-route injection (Uii + Uiv) group displayed: (1) significantly higher levels of VH, VH/CD, E-cadherin, and mucin-2; (2) decreased trypsin and NE levels in intestine, plasma, and vital organs; (3) reduced systemic inflammatory cytokine levels; and (4) improved survival of septic rats. CONCLUSION Two-route UTI injection was superior to single-route injection in terms of alleviating intestinal injury, which might be explained by extensive blockade of proteases through different ways.
Animals ; Cadherins ; metabolism ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Glycoproteins ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Inflammation Mediators ; metabolism ; Injections, Intralesional ; Injections, Intravenous ; Intestinal Diseases ; drug therapy ; etiology ; metabolism ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Intestines ; Leukocyte Elastase ; metabolism ; Male ; Mucin-2 ; metabolism ; Rats, Wistar ; Sepsis ; complications ; Trypsin ; metabolism ; Trypsin Inhibitors ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology