Interference therapy

Interference Therapy. This is conceptually the opposite of the replacement and reward therapies. Whereas replacement medications substitute for the abused drug by stimulating the same brain receptors, interference therapies block these receptors. When the substance abuser uses his/her drug of choice, its effects are blocked by the interference medication. As a result, the drug does not produce the same intensity of pleasurable effects. By reducing the pleasurable effects of drug use, the incentive for repeated use should decrease as well. 

Naltrexone (ReVia). Naltrexone is another medication that has specific FDA approval for the treatment of alcohol use disorders. It is used as an interference therapy. Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain and is believed to reduce alcohol-induced euphoria. The absence of pleasurable effects associated with alcohol consumption should plausibly lead to a decrease in the behavior of drinking alcohol. Evidence to date has demonstrated that recovering alcoholics treated with naltrexone have fewer days of drinking and longer periods of sobriety between relapses. 

Targeted cancer therapy refers to anticancer treatments that selectively interfere with molecules ( oncogenes and antioncogenes) considered to be important in neoplastic transformation, cell proliferation, invasion... 

Other approaches directed to the mRNA of tyrosine kinase and thereby interfering with their translation to proteins, such as anti-sense therapy and RNA interference (RNAi) are less advanced and currently limited to laboratory studies. 

Iodoquinol is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity. Iodoquinol is used with caution in patients with thyroid disease and during pregnancy and lactation. Iodoquinol may interfere with the results of thyroid function tests. This interference not only occurs during therapy, but may last as long as 6 months after iodoquinol therapy is discontinued. 

Bile acid sequestrants may interfere with die digestion of fats and prevent die absorption of die fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) and folic acid. When die bile acid sequestrants are used for long-term therapy, vitamins A and D may be given in a water-soluble form or administered parenterally. If bleedingtendencies occur as die result of vitamin K deficiency, parenteral vitamin K is administered for immediate treatment, and oral vitamin K is given for prevention of a deficiency in the futum... 

Vaccinations containing live organisms are not administered within 3 months of immune globulin administration because antibodies in the globulin preparation may interfere with the immune response to the vaccination. Corticosteroids, antineoplastic dru, and radiation therapy depress the immune system to such a degree that insufficient numbers of antibodies are produced to prevent the disease. When the salicylates are administered with the varicella vaccination, there is an increased risk of Reye s syndrome developing. 

Corticosteroids a chronic painless myopathy associated with the long-term use of corticosteroids is a particularly common example of drug-induced muscle disorder. It is almost certain that mild cases are overlooked because steroids are so frequently used to treat inflammatory myopathies such as polymyositis. Fluorinated steroids are particularly frequently implicated, and the incidence of drug-induced muscle disease is dose and time-related. The presence of muscle weakness can even complicate topical steroid therapy. Corticosteroid-induced myopathy is mediated via intramuscular cytosolic steroid receptors. The steroid-receptor complexes inhibit protein synthesis and interfere with oxidative phosphorylation. The myopathy is associated with vacuolar changes in muscle, and the accumulation of cytoplasmic glycogen and mitochondrial aggregations. 

Haasnoot J, Berkhout B (2006) RNA interference its use as antiviral therapy. Handb Exp Pharmacol 173 117-150... 

Trono D, Feinberg MB, Baltimore D (1989) HlV-1 Gag mutants can dominantly interfere with the replication of the wild-type virus. Cell 59 113-120 Tung FY, Bowen SW (1998) Targeted inhibition of hepatitis B virus gene expression a gene therapy approach. Front Biosci 3 all-al5... 

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