Projects
ChOLLATERAL: Generation of an adverse outcome pathway network on cholestatic liver injury for mechanism-based in vitro testing of chemicals. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Cholestasis refers to toxic bile acid accumulation mainly in the liver and can be induced by many chemical compounds, in particular drugs. At present, drug-induced cholestatic injury (DICI) is poorly predictable and is an important reason for drug withdrawal from the market as well as a major clinical issue. A solution lies in better understanding the mechanisms of DICI. A pragmatic tool to visually and rationally capture the ...
ADVERSE EXERCISE-DRUG INTERACTIONS: THE CASE OF HISTAMINE BLOCKADE Ghent University
Chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases affect over 1 billion people worldwide and can be prevented and treated by physical activity, usually termed as ‘exercise-is-medicine’. Surprisingly, recent evidence suggests that some drugs antagonize the health-promoting effects of exercise. Although it is inherent that every pharmaceutical drug has side-effects, blocking the beneficial effects of exercise is a severe and ...
Investigation of bidirectional pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction between vicagrel, a novel analogue for the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, and atorvastatin KU Leuven
Research Aim 1)To investigate the risk and mechanisms of a possible bidirectional pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction (DDI) between vicagrel, a potential replacement drug for the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, and atorvastatin, a cardiovascular drug often used in clinical combination; 2)To develop a novel complex physiologically-based pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PBPK-PD) model that can describe concentration-time profiles of ...
Optimizing the use of bispecific antibody treatment in Multiple Myeloma by studying the immune microenvironment and cellular mechanisms of drug resistance. KU Leuven
Patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RR MM) have an unmet medical need for new treatment strategies. T cell redirecting strategies such as bispecific antibodies (bsAb) are a new and important therapy for those patients. Amongst the T cell redirecting strategies used in MM, most target B cell maturation antigen (BCMA). Despite their impressive therapeutic efficacy, there is still an important knowledge gap regarding predictive ...
Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium (Antimalarial combination treatments in African pregnant women with P. falciparum infection) Institute of Tropical Medicine
General
To determine the safety and efficacy of 4 ACTs (amodiaquine-artesunate, AQ-AS, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, DHA-PQ, artemether-lumefantrine, AL, Mefloquine-artesunate, MQAS) when administered to pregnant women with P. falciparum infection during the second and the third trimester and collect explanatory variables for treatment failure (PCR-corrected) and for recurrent parasitaemia. Safety will be determined ...
Safe and efficacious artemisinin-based combination treatments for African pregnant women with malaria. Institute of Tropical Medicine
Overall Goal: To identify artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACT) that can be safely and efficaciously used to treat women with malaria in their second and third trimester of pregnancy. This will be attained through the following strategies: 1. Research: To determine the safety and efficacy of 4 ACTs when administered to pregnant women during the second and the third trimester with P. falciparum infection and collect explanatory ...
Development, validation and clinical application of assas in order to perform blood concentration measurements of biological. KU Leuven
The introduction of biologics has heralded a new era for treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), including ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Although these agents show efficacy in many patients, a substantial proportion of patients fails to respond, loses response over time or develops potentially therapy-limiting adverse events. One possible mechanism explaining the failure of ...
Development and application of NanoBRET-based technology: Unravelling signalling bias at the human chemokine receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 KU Leuven
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are cell surface receptors that translate extracellular stimuli into intracellular responses. They play a pivotal role in regulating developmental and physiological processes. Hence, dysregulated GPCR signalling contributes to various human pathologies, making GPCRs prime targets for FDA-approved drugs1–4. Ligand binding induces conformational changes in GPCRs, initiating both G protein-dependent signalling ...
Towards new therapies for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. KU Leuven
Despite advances in neonatology, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) remains a frequent and important consequence of preterm birth. Innovative therapeutic approaches are needed to improve the respiratory outcome of survivors of preterm birth. The drug discovery pipeline has not been particularly successful for BPD. Currently, budesonide mixed with surfactant, mesenchymal stem cells and IGF1 are promising candidates for further research, but many ...