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Naimish R Patel,1,2 Danen M Cunoosamy,1 Malin Fagerås,1 Ziad Taib,1 Sara Asimus,1 Tove Hegelund-Myrbäck,1 Sofia Lundin,1 Katerina Pardali,1 Nisha Kurian,1 Eva Ersdal,1 Cecilia Kristensson,1 Katarina Korsback,1 Robert Palmér,1 Mary N Brown,3 Steven Greenaway,4 Leonard Siew,4 Graham W Clarke,4,5 Stephen I Rennard,6,7 Barry J Make,8 Robert A Wise,9 Paul Jansson11Innovative Medicines and Early Development, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden; 2Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA, 3Innovative Medicines and Early Development, AstraZeneca, Boston, MA, USA; 4Quintiles Drug Research Unit at Guy’s Hospital, London, 5Department of Cardiothoracic Pharmacology, NHLI, Imperial College London, London, UK; 6Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, USA; 7Clinical Discovery Unit, Innovative Medicines and Early Development, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK; 8Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, National Jewish Health, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, 9Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USABackground: p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) plays a central role in the regulation and activation of pro-inflammatory mediators. COPD patients have increased levels of activated p38 MAPK, which correlate with increased lung function impairment, alveolar wall inflammation, and COPD exacerbations.Objectives: These studies aimed to assess the effect of p38 inhibition with AZD7624 in healthy volunteers and patients with COPD. The principal hypothesis was that decreasing lung inflammation via inhibition of p38α would reduce exacerbations and improve quality of life for COPD patients at high risk for acute exacerbations.Methods: The p38 isoform most relevant to lung inflammation was assessed using an in situ proximity ligation assay in severe COPD patients and donor controls. Volunteers aged 18–55 years were randomized into the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge study, which investigated the effect of a single dose of AZD7624 vs placebo on inflammatory biomarkers. The Proof of Principle study randomized patients aged 40–85 years with a diagnosis of COPD for >1 year to AZD7624 or placebo to assess the effect of p38 inhibition in decreasing the rate of exacerbations.Results: The p38 isoform most relevant to lung inflammation was p38α, and AZD7624 specifically inhibited p38α and p38β isoforms in human alveolar macrophages. Thirty volunteers were randomized in the LPS challenge study. AZD7624 reduced the increase from baseline in sputum neutrophils and TNF-α by 56.6% and 85.4%, respectively (p

A new polarographic system for measurement of oxygen consumption in vitro has been constructed to minimize different types of errors. The system was built of polyamide-6, Monax glass, stainless steel, and rubber to diminish oxygen leakage and gas capacitance properties. With these materials the system was gas-tight. Nevertheless, the incubation chambers had oxygen capacitance properties that had to be corrected for mathematically. Thus, in order to obtain more exact absolute values of the respiratory rate, the apparent respiratory slopes were continuously corrected for delta pO2. Furthermore, the initial slope observed in the absence of biological material was also taken into account. Using these variables, the apparent slope (mm Hg/min) could be adjusted by subtracting the following correction factor: correction factor = 0.00306 X delta pO2 + 0.198 X (initial slope). This correction gave a high degree of linearity and an overall error on the order of 10%. Without the described correction for the oxygen capacitance, the true respiratory rate may be underestimated by up to 50%.