Patent Application: US-51983100-A

Abstract:
a method of treating or preventing recurrence of warts including a step of administering to a patient an anti - inflammatory drug , particularly , ciprofloxacin .

Description:
pathogens , such as hpv , circumvent the early immune system response through various mechanisms so that early detection is avoided . this early resistance to the development of a natural immune response toward the human papillomavirus ensures life - long persistence of the virus in the cells . in the absence of an early generation of an immune response . protection , curative antibody cannot be made . it is only after whatever therapeutic measures are applied that the inaccessible viron antigen is exposed to the immune system . the viron antigens are biochemical determinants that are not seen prior to therapeutic measures . once these are seen by the immune system , a response is generated . antigen presentation leads to the production of il - 12 by macrophages and to the development of a th - 1 response . the th - 1 response leads to a normal or increased production of il - 2 , ifn - y gamma , and other factors leading to a strong cell - mediated response involving further activation of macrophages , nk ( natural killer ) cells , neutrophils , delayed types hypersensitivity ( dth ) and the production of igg2a by b cells , an antibody subclass important in phagocyte - mediated immunity . the effective generation of this response is solely dependent upon the patient &# 39 ; s immune system and health status . the importance of the patient being able to develop this response is more significant than any therapeutic measure directly applied to the warts . 1 - 16 this response has been found to occur not only after direct treatment to the warts , but without treatment in cases of natural regression . evidence supporting the association of hpv regression with the development of the th - 1 response comes from studies of cytokine expression in regressing and noregressing warts . 1 - 10 evidence from both human and animal studies suggest that hpv regression is associated with the development of the th - 1 response after direct treatment or in natural wart regression . 1 - 11 the key cytokine is il - 12 , a regulatory molecule that promotes the differentiation of th precursers into th - 1 cells . 2 , 12 il - 12 is produced mainly by macrophages in response to bacteria and intracellular parasites leading to the development of the th - 1 response in response to these microorganisms . 1 , 12 recent studies of the papillomavirus have shown that in regressing genital warts , but not in non - regressing warts , the messenger rna for the p40 chain of il - 12 is consistently present . when regression occurs , it is characterized by infiltrating t cells , and the regressing keratinocytes express bioactive il - 12 . 1 the intriguing finding of the association of this regulatory molecule leading to the development of the th - 1 response that was not only found in response to bacteria , intracellular parasites but in wart regression demonstrates the necessity of this response for infectious diseases . optimum strategy for wart regression would be the capacity of and therapeutic measure to systemically generate this response . inmmunostimulating , immnunomodulating therapeutic measures are a necessity , but all patients would ultimately benefit from this form of therapy . this type of therapy would not be just another therapy for eradication of warts , but directed to effectuating the immune system &# 39 ; s response toward the underlying virus . according to the present invention , delivery of an anti - inflammatory drug , such as ciprofloxacin hydrochloride , is found to activate the th - 1 response which then leads to production of igg2a and the development of phagocytic - dependent cell - mediated immunity . by way of example , ciprofloxacin hydrochloride is an anti - inflammatory drug which is conventionally used for treatment of bacterial infections , such as bronchitis . ciprofloxacin hydrochloride is sold under the trademark cipro ® by bayer corporation of west haven , conn . bacterial infections require the development of an effective th - 1 response . ciprofloxacin hydrochloride up regulates certain cytokines and other factors necessary for the development of a th - 1 response that is required for bacterial clearance as well as hpv regression . according to the method of the present invention , an anti - inflammatory drug such as ciprofloxacin hydrochloride is administered to a patient suffering from a viral dermatological disorder , such as warts . unlike prior treatment protocols . the dermatological disorder is not treated with a topical medicament but instead with a perorally delivered drug . when the dermatological disorder being treated is warts . ciprofloxacin hydrochloride is a preferred drug and is preferably delivered twice per day in 500 milligram doses . other dosaging rates are also contemplated by the present invention . dosaging is determined by the amount of drug necessary to cause regression of the viral activity responsible for the dermatological disorder . it is believed that ciprofloxacin hydrochloride stimulates warts to regress and can be used to prevent recurrence of warts . hence the present invention is useful both as a method of treating a dermatological disorder and preventing recurrence of the same . it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the concepts disclosed in the foregoing description . such modifications are to be considered as included within the following claims unless the claims , by their language , expressly state otherwise . accordingly , the particular embodiments described in detail herein are illustrative only and are not limiting to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof . 1 . stanley m . the immunology of a genital papilloma virus infection . eur j dermatol 1998 ; 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