Deoxyribonuclease diseases

Patients suffering from cystic fibrosis often use various aerosolized drugs. To reduce the viscosity of the mucus in the airways, recombinant human deoxyribonuclease is used. This enzyme is the first recombinant protein that has been developed for specific delivery to the lungs via the airways. It has a local action on the mucus in the airways and its absorption is minimal. Another drug that decreases the viscosity of the mucus is acetylcysteine. Aerosolized antibiotics are a further group of therapeutics that is widely used by cystic fibrosis patients. Solutions of antibiotics like tobramycin or colistin are used in nebulizers to prevent exacerbation of the disease. Pentamidine has been used for the prophylaxis of Pneumocystis pneumonia in patients infected with HIV virus, while chronic rejection of lung transplants provided a reason to develop an aerosol formulation of cyclosporine A. 

Although there is still no cure for cystic fibrosis, several pharmacologic techniques have been recently developed that may help decrease the viscosity of respiratory secretions in patients with this disease. One technique uses aerosol preparations that contain enzymes known as deoxyribonucleases. These enzymes can be inhaled to break down the large quantities of DNA that are present in respiratory secretions of patients with cystic fibrosis.48,104 Respiratory secretions in these patients often contain large amounts of DNA because the genetic material contained in airway in-... 

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