Quinacrine

Quinacrine (trade name: Atabrine) is a drug with a number of different medical applications.

As an antimalarial drug, it has been available since the 1930s, but it is currently used as an antibiotic in the treatment of Giardiasis, an intestinal parasite. Extended consumption of quinacrine is also linked to a yellowing of the epidermis in a fashion similar to, and easily mistaken for, jaundice.

History

Scientists at Bayer in Germany first synthesised Quinacrine in 1931. The product was one of the first synthetic substitutes for quinine. The product was subsequently marketed as Mepacrine or Atebrin while Quinacrine was its American name.

Quinacrine Sterilization (QS)

Inserting seven tiny pellets of quinacrine into the uterine cavity with a straw-like IUD inserter on two separate occasions one month apart results in permanent sterilization of a woman. The quinacrine acts as a sclerosing agent, and chemically burns surface tissue at the utero-tubal junctions, where the Fallopian tubes enter the uterus. In six weeks scar tissue forms, closing off the tubes permanently. This method has been used successfully on over 100,000 women in 20 countries, with no deaths.

Field Tests

Field tests carried out in India has led to notable concern over the lack of disclosure to test subjects regarding the permanent effects of the procedure. This omission, along with a lack of knowledge about the long-term effects of Quinacrine Sterilization has led to a ban by the world health organization on further human testing.

Quinacrine and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Quinacrine has been shown to bind to the prion protein and prevent the formation of prion aggregates in vitro , and full clinical trials of its use as a treatment for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are under way in the United Kingdom and the United States. Small trials in Japan have reported improvement in the condition of patients with the disease , although other reports have shown no significant effect and treatment of scrapie in mice and sheep has also shown no effect .

References

Doh-Ura K, Iwaki T, Caughey B. Lysosomotropic agents and cysteine protease inhibitors inhibit scrapie-associated prion protein accumulation Journal of Virology 2000 May;74(10):4894-7 Free Full Text
Kobayashi Y, Hirata K, Tanaka H, Yamada T. Quinacrine administration to a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease who received a cadaveric dura mater graft--an EEG evaluation. Rinsho Shinkeigaku. 2003 Jul;43(7):403-8.
Haik S, Brandel JP, Salomon D, Sazdovitch V, Delasnerie-Laupretre N, Laplanche JL, Faucheux BA, Soubrie C, Boher E, Belorgey C, Hauw JJ, Alperovitch A. Compassionate use of quinacrine in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease fails to show significant effects. Neurology. 2004 Dec 28;63(12):2413-5. Abstract
Barret A, Tagliavini F, Forloni G, Bate C, Salmona M, Colombo L, De Luigi A, Limido L, Suardi S, Rossi G, Auvre F, Adjou KT, Sales N, Williams A, Lasmezas C, Deslys JP. Evaluation of quinacrine treatment for prion diseases. Journal of Virology 2003 Aug;77(15):8462-9. Free Full Text
Gayrard V, Picard-Hagen N, Viguie C, Laroute V, Andreoletti O, Toutain PL. A possible pharmacological explanation for quinacrine failure to treat prion diseases: pharmacokinetic investigations in an ovine model of scrapie. British Journal of Pharmacology 2005 Feb;144(3):386-93. Abstract

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