Role of H2 receptor blocker famotidine over the clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is a global pandemic putting the population at a high risk of infection-related health hazards,mortality and a potential failure of proper medical therapies.Therefore,it is necessary to evaluate the potential use of the existing drugs that could be used as options for the medical management of COVID-19 patients.AIM To evaluate the role of the H_(2) receptor blocker“famotidine”in COVID-19 illness.METHODS This study was done on seriously ill COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit(ICU)from different institutes in Bangladesh.Patients were divided into famotidine treatment group“A”(famotidine 40 mg to 60 mg oral formulation every 8 h with other treatment as given),and control group“B”(treatment as given).National early warning score(NEWS)-2,and sequential organ failure assessment day-1 score was calculated to evaluate the outcome.Outcomes were evaluated by the time required for clinical improvement,characterized as duration required from enrollment to the achievement of NEWS-2 of≤2 maintained for 24 h;time to symptomatic recovery,defined as the duration in days(from randomization)required for the recovery of the COVID-19 symptoms;mortality rate;duration of ICU and hospital stay;total period of hospitalization;the rate of supplementary oxygen requirement;the computed tomography(CT)chest recovery(%),the time required for the viral clearance and“NEWS-2”on discharge.RESULTS A total of 208 patients were enrolled in this study with 104 patients in each group.The famotidine treatment group had comparatively better recovery of 75%and a low mortality of 25%than the control with a recovery of 70%and a mortality of 30%.Duration of clinical improvement(group A 9.53 d,group B 14.21 d);hospitalization period among the recovered patients(group A 13.04 d,group B 16.31 d),pulmonary improvement in chest CT(group A 21.7%,group B 13.2%),and the time for viral clearance(group A 20.7 d,group B 23.8 d)were found to be statistically significant P≤0.05.However,the Kaplan Meier survival test was not significant among the two study groups,P=0.989.CONCLUSION According to our study,treatment with famotidine achieved a better clinical outcome compared to the control group in severe COVID-19 illness,although no significant survival benefit was found.

Knockdown Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein family member 3(WASF3)inhibits colorectal cancer metastasis and sensitizes to cisplatin through targeting ZNF471

:Colorectal cancer(CRC)is a heterogeneous cancer,and many risk factors for colorectal cancer have been established.For CRC metastasis,tumor cell migration,adhesion as well as invasion are important processes.Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein family member 3(WASF3)is necessary for metastasis of various types of cancers.However,its role in CRC progression has not been fully elucidated.This study examined the in vitro functional roles of WASF3 in the CRC and explored the underlying molecular mechanisms.We used siRNA-WASF3 to gene silence WASF3 in colon cancer cell(HCT116)in vitro.The effects of WASF3 silencing on HCT116 cell apoptosis,proliferation,migration,as well as invasion were assessed by flow cytometry,CCK-8,and transwell assays.ZNF471 protein expressions were detected by immunofluorescence staining and RT-PCR.Moreover,the effects of ZNF471 were studied on a series of in vitro antitumor-promoting assays using HCT116.WASF3 knockdown expression using small interfering RNA(siRNA)ameliorated CRC cell proliferation,anchorage-independent growth,invasion,and metastasis.Furthermore,we observed that WASF3 contributed to upregulating the metastasis signaling pathway through inhibiting the expression of ZNF471.Our study suggests that targeting WASF3 signaling might be a novel therapeutic strategy for treating CRC.