Compounds and methods for treatment of stroke

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods and agents useful for the treatment of stroke, including ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. In particular, methods and agents for treating stroke in a subject are provided, wherein the agent is administered prior to diagnosis of the stroke as an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 774,950, filed on 16 Feb. 2006, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to methods and agents useful for the treatment of ischemic disorders. In particular, methods and agents of the present invention can be used for treatment of stroke, including ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Stroke [0003] Approximately 15 million people worldwide suffer a stroke each year, resulting in death or sensorimotor and other defects. Stroke remains the third most common cause of death in the industrialized world behind heart disease and cancer. There are two forms of stroke: ischemic stoke, caused by a blood clot that blocks or prevents the flow of blood, and hemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding into or around the brain. Ischemic stroke accounts for approximately 80-86% of all stroke cases. Current pharmacothera...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] An advantage of the present methods over current treatment methods for stroke is that methods of the present invention can be applied to situations in which a subject has had a stroke or is suspected of having had a stroke prior to diagnosis of the stroke as an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke. The consequent elimination of the need to diagnose a stroke as being an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke reduces the delay between the time from stroke onset to appropriate treatment.

Problems solved by technology

Approximately 15 million people worldwide suffer a stroke each year, resulting in death or sensorimotor and other defects.

Current pharmacotherapy for ischemic stroke is limited.

Administration of thrombolytic agents, such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which dissolve blood clots and thus restore blood flow to affected regions, has limited applicability.

In particular, administration of tPA is only effective if given within three hours from the time of stroke onset.

This three-hour therapeutic window must include time for diagnosis, as the use of tPA for treatment of stroke is limited to that of ischemic stroke, and cannot be administered to a patient having had a hemorrhagic stroke.

The use of tPA for treatment of ischemic stroke has other limitations, including that not all clinicians are adequately trained to deliver tPA, and that tPA has also been associated with extravascular deleterious effects, including hemmorhagic transformation, microvascular dysfunction, and exitotoxic neuronal damage.

Moreover, use of thrombolytic agents, such as tPA, as well as other existing stroke therapies, target only a specific subset of deleterious symptoms associated with or resulting from stroke, and therefore fail to provide a complete therapeutic approach for addressing both the immediate and long-term consequences following a stroke.

Additionally, such therapies are often of high cost and have limited modes of administration.

If the decrease in perfusion is prolonged or severe, however, chronic ischemia can also be associated with an infarct.

Ischemic disorders are a major cause of morbidity and mortality.

Other medications, including digoxin, diuretics, amrinone, beta-blockers, lipid-lowering agents and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, are used to stabilize the condition, but none of these therapies directly address the tissue damage produced by the ischemia.

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