Aprepitant against pruritus in patients with solid tumours

Excerpt

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is associated with a significant decline in quality of life, and although with use of anti-emetic drugs, it remains a significant clinical problem [1]. Aprepitant is the first commercially available drug of a new class of neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1) antagonists. The importance of substance P and its receptor NK1 is becoming more clear in the pathophysiology of CINV. Substance P, a regulatory peptide of tachynin family, can induce vomiting binding NK1 receptors in the abdominal vagus, in the nucleus tractus solitarius and in the area postrema. Substance P has a role in many central functions, like nausea, vomiting, behaviour, anxiety, depression and pain transmission. Many central and peripheral effects of substance P are mediated by NK1 receptors [2]. …