Amlodipine may help reduce heart iron

Amlodipine may help reduce heart iron in thalassemia
Jul 18, 2013  | Reuters Health News
E-mailinShare.0By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Amlodipine may be helpful in patients with thalassemia major undergoing chelation therapy, a small study suggests.

“This pilot trial shows that amlodipine could play a significant coadjutant role in the management of iron overload by blocking the entrance of iron in susceptible cells while allowing for the chelators to act,” Dr. Juliano Lara Fernandes told Reuters Health by email.

In a July 8th online paper in The American Journal of Medicine, Dr. Fernandes of the University of Campinas and colleagues cite experimental evidence that calcium channel blockers can reduce myocardial iron overload – which suggested to them that lowering cellular iron uptake with these drugs might be a complementary treatment to standard iron chelation.

To test the theory in a preliminary way, the researchers randomized five patients to receive amlodipine as well as standard treatment and 10 to receive standard treatment alone. They recorded T2* values (that is, tissue iron as measured by the magnetic resonance T2-star parameter) in the liver and heart at baseline and at six and 12 months.

Iron accumulation causes T2* shortening. In this study, the baseline heart T2* value of 21.7 ms in the amlodipine-treated group rose significantly to 28.2 ms at six months and 28.3 ms at 12 months. At six months, the T2* value in controls was 24.7 ms, which was significantly shorter than in the study group.

Ferritin levels also were significantly reduced in the amlodipine group at 12 months.

Adding a calcium channel blocker to standard chelation in patients with thalassemia major “may improve the efficacy of heart iron removal and reduce serum levels of ferritin,” the authors conclude.

In fact, Dr. Fernandez added, “If the results hold true in the ongoing randomized controlled trial, we might be able to offer patients with iron overload a new and inexpensive therapeutic strategy on top of any of the current chelation regimens.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/12OMWLT

Am J Med 2013.

This looks very interesting. I like that they have already been trying it with real patients.

Wow. This is indeed very interesting.

-P.

Hi, can someone please explain in Layman language, does this means that if Amlodipine given with Iron Chelation then it will reduce iron overload from organ where Iron Chelation are not able to remove.

is it available for medical usage or it is still under research or what is the expected date to be in use of Amlodipine?

Regards
Sushil Thakur

Yes, the rise in cardiac T2* score demonstrates that the addition of Amlodipine intensifies the chelation in the organs. The trial was very positive in that respect. This article does not talk about where they are going from here, but normally it works this way. Funding is sought to run more extensive trials to observe both effects and any potential side effects. Once it goes through the trial stages, FDA approval is sought to market the drug for this purpose. At this point, I can't give you anymore information about when we may seen this available as an adjunct to chelation.

Amlodipine for Myocardial Iron in Thalassemia (AMIT)
This study is currently recruiting participants.
Verified February 2014 by Aga Khan University
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02065492?rcv_d=14&show_rss=Y