Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume 56, Issue 6 , Pages 979-988 , June 2007

Treatment of pruritus with topically applied opiate receptor antagonist

  • Paul L. Bigliardi, MD

      Affiliations

    • From the Departments of Dermatology, CHUV Hôpital Beaumont, Lausanne
    • University of Basel
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Paul L. Bigliardi, MD, Department of Dermatology, Neurodermatology, CHUV Hôpital de Beaumont, BT-440, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland; phone ++41 21 314 01 11, fax ++41 21 314 03 82.
    • ,
  • Holger Stammer, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Pharmalog GmbH Institute for Clinical Research, Munich
    • ,
  • Gerhard Jost, MD

      Affiliations

    • Spirig AG, Egerkingen
    • ,
  • Theo Rufli, MD

      Affiliations

    • University of Basel
    • ,
  • Stanislaw Büchner, MD

      Affiliations

    • University of Basel
    • ,
  • Mei Bigliardi-Qi, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Departments of Dermatology, CHUV Hôpital Beaumont, Lausanne
    • University of Basel

,Accepted 14 December 2006.

References 

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  3. Terra SG, Tsunoda SM. Opioid antagonists in the treatment of pruritus from cholestatic liver disease. Ann Pharmacother. 1998;32:1228–1230
  4. Metze D, Reimann S, Beissert S, Luger T. Efficacy and safety of naltrexone, an oral opiate receptor antagonist, in the treatment of pruritus in internal and dermatological diseases. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1999;41:533–539
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  8. Terg R, Coronel E, Sorda J, Munoz AE, Findor J. Efficacy and safety of oral naltrexone treatment for pruritus of cholestasis, a crossover, double blind, placebo-controlled study. J Hepatol. 2002;37:717–722
  9. Bergasa NV, Thomas DA, Vergalla J, Turner ML, Jones EA. Plasma from patients with the pruritus of cholestasis induces opioid receptor-mediated scratching in monkeys. Life Sci. 1993;53:1253–1257
  10. Jones EA, Dekker LR. Florid opioid withdrawal-like reaction precipitated by naltrexone in a patient with chronic cholestasis. Gastroenterology. 2000;118:431–432
  11. Peer G, Kivity S, Agami O, Fireman E, Silverberg D, Blum M, et al. Randomised crossover trial of naltrexone in uraemic pruritus. Lancet. 1996;348:1552–1554
  12. Yuan CS, Foss IF, O'Connor M, Osinski J, Roizen MF, Moss J. Efficacy of orally administered methylnaltrexone in decreasing subjective effects after intravenous morphine. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1998;52:161–165
  13. Bigliardi PL, Bigliardi-Qi M, Buechner S, Rufli T. Expression of mu-opiate receptor in human epidermis and keratinocytes. J Invest Dermatol. 1998;111:297–301
  14. Bigliardi-Qi M, Lipp B, Sumanovski LT, Buechner SA, Bigliardi PL. Changes of epidermal mu-opiate receptor expression and nerve endings in chronic atopic dermatitis. Dermatology. 2005;210:91–99
  15. Johansson O, Wang L, Illiges M, Jiang Y. Intraepidermal nerves in human skin: PGP 9.5 immunohistochemistry with special reference to the nerve density in skin from different body regions. J Peripher Nerv Syst. 1999;4:43–52
  16. McArthur JC, Stocks EA, Hauer P, Cornblath DR, Griffin JW. Epidermal nerve fiber density: normative reference range and diagnostic efficiency. Arch Neurol. 1998;55:1513–1520
  17. Lauria G, Holland N, Hauer P, Cornblath DR, Griffin JW, McArthur JC. Epidermal innervation: changes with aging, topographic location, and in sensory neuropathy. J Neurol Sci. 1999;164:172–178
  18. Kauser S, Thody AJ, Schallreuter KU, Gummer CL, Tobin DJ. beta-Endorphin as a regulator of human hair follicle melanocyte biology. J Invest Dermatol. 2004;123:184–195
  19. Kauser S, Schallreuter KU, Thody AJ, Gummer C, Tobin DJ. Regulation of human epidermal melanocyte biology by beta-endorphin. J Invest Dermatol. 2003;120:1073–1080
  20. Stander S, Gunzer M, Metze D, Luger T, Steinhoff M. Localization of micro-opioid receptor 1a on sensory nerve fibers in human skin. Regul Pept. 2002;110:75–83
  21. Bigliardi-Qi M, Sumanovski LT, Buchner S, Rufli T, Bigliardi PL. mu-Opiate receptor and beta-endorphin expression in nerve endings and keratinocytes in human skin. Dermatology. 2004;209:183–189
  22. Grelik C, Allard S, Ribeiro-Da Silva A. Changes in nociceptive sensory innervation in the epidermis of the rat lower lip skin in a model of neuropathic pain. Neurosci Lett. 2005;389:140–145
  23. Bigliardi PL, Bigliardi-Qi M. Peripheral opiate receptor system in human epidermis and itch, in peripheral opiate receptor system in human epidermis and itch. In:  Yosipovitch G, et al. editor. New York: Marcel Dekker; 2004;p. 97–106
  24. Palmer CN, Irvine AD, Terron-Kwiatkowski A, Zhao Y, Liao H, Lee SP, et al. Common loss-of-function variants of the epidermal barrier protein filaggrin are a major predisposing factor for atopic dermatitis. Nat Genet. 2006;38:441–446
  25. Irvine AD, McLean WH. Breaking the (un)sound barrier: filaggrin is a major gene for atopic dermatitis. J Invest Dermatol. 2006;126:1200–1202

 Funding sources: Spirig AG, Egerkingen and the Department of Dermatology, University of Basel.Conflicts of interest: None declared.

PII: S0190-9622(07)00072-2

doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2007.01.007

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Volume 56, Issue 6 , Pages 979-988 , June 2007

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