Bosentan as Adjunctive Therapy for Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn: Results of the Randomized Multicenter Placebo-Controlled Exploratory Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan as adjunctive therapy for neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).

Study Design: This was a phase 3, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled exploratory trial (FUTURE-4). Eligible patients were >34 weeks gestation, <7 days old, receiving inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) treatment (≥4 hours), and had persistent respiratory failure (oxygenation index [OI] ≥12).

Randomized trial of clazosentan in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage undergoing endovascular coiling.

Background And Purpose: Clazosentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist, has been shown to reduce vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). CONSCIOUS-3 assessed whether clazosentan reduced vasospasm-related morbidity and all-cause mortality postaSAH secured by endovascular coiling.

Methods: This double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trial randomized patients with aSAH secured by endovascular coiling to ≤ 14 days intravenous clazosentan (5 or 15 mg/h) or placebo.

Ligands for natural killer cell-activating receptors are expressed upon the maturation of normal myelomonocytic cells but at low levels in acute myeloid leukemias.

Natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytolytic activity against tumors requires the engagement of activating NK receptors by the tumor-associated ligands. Here, we have studied the role of NKG2D and natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs) in the recognition of human leukemia. To detect as-yet-unknown cell-surface molecules recognized by NCRs, we developed soluble forms of NKp30, NKp44, and NKp46 as staining reagents binding the putative cognate ligands.

Reconstitution of dendritic and natural killer-cell subsets after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: effects of endogenous flt3 ligand.

Recovery of dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is important for allograft responses and antitumor immunity and thus for treatment outcome. Regulation of this regenerative process is not well understood. We investigated the influence of endogenous cytokines on the recovery and diversification of DC and NK cell subsets up to 6 months after SCT.