Promise of Tetracycline Antibiotic for Osteoarthritis
Study Shows Effectiveness of Doxycycline in Slowing Disease Progression. A tetracycline antibiotic, doxycycline, has been successfully used to treat a wide-range of bacterial infections. In addition to its effects as an antibiotic, doxycycline has other actions as a drug and, in laboratory studies with animals and with human tissue, can inhibit the degradation of cartilage in a way that could be useful for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). OA is a common form of arthritis associated with pain and disability related to the breakdown of cartilage, the tissue in the joint that absorbs shock and promotes smooth movement.
(I-Newswire) - On the strength of preclinical evidence, a team of rheumatologists affiliated with six clinical research centers across the United States conducted the first long-term clinical trial to determine the benefits of doxycycline in the treatment of OA-particularly, OA of the knee. Their findings, featured in the July 2005 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism ( http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/arthritis ), suggest that doxycycline may slow the progression of joint damage and point to the need for further research into the drug's effect on the signs and symptoms of this disease.
For the trial, the team recruited 431 overweight women between the ages of 45 and 64 with moderately advanced OA in one knee. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 100 milligrams of doxycycline or a placebo twice a day for 30 months. At baseline, the 2 treatment groups were roughly equal with respect to all demographic variables, body mass index, and types of drugs taken for pain, as well as for the x-ray severity of OA in the affected knee and the level of knee pain and functional impairment. OA progression was assessed by measuring joint space narrowing in the medial tibiofemoral compartment through X-rays obtained at baseline, 16 months and 30 months. Severity of joint pain was assessed every 6 months after a washout period of all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( NSAIDs ) and analgesics.
71 percent of the subjects completed the treatment protocol. Radiographs were obtained from 85 percent of all subjects at 30 months. After 16 months of treatment, the mean loss of joint space width in the diseased knee in the doxycycline group was 40 percent less than in the placebo group. After 30 months, it was 33 percent less. Yet, despite significantly slowing disease progression, d oxycycline did not reduce the severity of joint pain. However, mean pain scores at baseline were low in both treatment groups, leaving only limited opportunity to demonstrate improvement in joint pain. On the other hand, the drug significantly reduced the frequency with which subjects reported increases in knee pain 20 percent or greater than the level of pain they had at their previous semi-annual visit.
Notably, doxycycline seemed to have no effect on joint space narrowing or pain in the relatively disease-free knee. In both knees in both treatment groups, the rate of joint space narrowing was more than twice as rapid in subjects who reported frequent increases in pain than in those with a stable pain score. “Joint pain may serve as an indicator of synovitis that leads to cartilage destruction,” observes the study's leading author, Kenneth D. Brandt, M.D.
Throughout the trial, fewer than 5 percent of all subjects reported side effects. In general, doxycycline seemed to be well tolerated. Subjects in the active treatment group experienced the unexpected side benefits of fewer urinary tract and upper respiratory tract infections than their placebo counterparts.
In conclusion, in this study, doxcycyline showed benefits in slowing the rate of joint space narrowing in knees with established OA. Whether this drug has any value in the early treatment and symptomatic management of OA, however, will require further investigation.
Article : “Effects of Doxycyline on Progression of Osteoarthritis: Results of a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Trial,” Kenneth D. Brandt, Steven A. Mazzuca, Barry P. Katz, Kathleen A. Lane, Kenneth A. Buckwalter, David E. Yocum, Frederick Wolfe, Thomas J. Schnitzer, Larry W. Moreland, Susan Manzi, John D. Bradley, Leena Sharma, Chester V. Oddis, Steven T. Hugenberg, and Louis W. Heck, Arthritis & Rheumatism , July 2005; 52:7; pp. 2015-2025. Article is available via Wiley InterScience at interscience.wiley.com/journal/arthritis.
If you have questions regarding information in this press release contact the company listed below. I-Newswire.com is a press release service and not the author of this press release. The information that is on or available through this site is for informational purposes only and speaks only as of the particular date or dates of that information. As some companies / PR Agencies submit their press releases once per week/month or quarter, make sure check the official company website for accurate release dates as our site displays the I-Newswire.com distribution date only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on or available through this site, and we are not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in that information or for actions taken in reliance on that information.
Immerse yourself in mystery and magic with two exciting new casual games from Focus Multimedia and Big Fish Games Studios, one of the world’s leading casual game developers. Hidden Expedition Titanic and Azada join Focus’ popular Revival range of super-budget price games and are available in a store near you.
Edraw Max enables students, teachers and business professionals to reliably create and publish kinds of diagrams to represent any ideas. With large pre-drawn libraries and more than 4600 vector symbols, drawing couldn't be easier!
New range of cards launched to make you the cover star.Hallmark Cards in partnership with OK Magazine has launched an exclusive and exciting new range of greeting cards that gives people the chance to give family and friends the A-List treatment.
Many people choose not to pursue an accident claim. The reasons range from knowing the insurance company will settle; to they don't want the legal hassles and expense.
Many individuals and businesses have always purchased their personal computers from a well-known provider to pre-conceived specifications. Increasingly...
The effectiveness of SEO and PPC Services are directly related to the quality and quantity of the performance data that they have to work with. If you are seeking assistance in achieving a higher ranking on search engine results, then we suggest you visit RankYourWebsites.com, specialist in this area. If you have found your attempts at optimization to prove fruitless, the representatives at RankYourWebsites.com will have a solution to increase your traffic.
http://www.vineyardsforsalein.com/ - online island vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale paso, texas vineyard for sale, washington vineyard for sale, tuscany vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale santa, vineyard for sale California
Mark Flanagan, Managing Director of Manchester health and safety, food safety and fire safety consultancy, Shieldyourself, discussed the Scores on the Doors scheme when he made a guest appearance on the BBC’s 5 Live Radio Show recently.
