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Review
. 2022 Jan 25:13:828513.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.828513. eCollection 2022.

Pharmacological Treatment of Secondary Lymphedema

Stav Brown  1 , Joseph H Dayan  1 , Michelle Coriddi  1 , Adana Campbell  1 , Kevin Kuonqui  1 , Jinyeon Shin  1 , Hyeung Ju Park  1 , Babak J Mehrara  1 , Raghu P Kataru  1
Affiliations
Review

Pharmacological Treatment of Secondary Lymphedema

Stav Brown et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Lymphedema is a chronic disease that results in swelling and decreased function due to abnormal lymphatic fluid clearance and chronic inflammation. In Western countries, lymphedema most commonly develops following an iatrogenic injury to the lymphatic system during cancer treatment. It is estimated that as many as 10 million patients suffer from lymphedema in the United States alone. Current treatments for lymphedema are palliative in nature, relying on compression garments and physical therapy to decrease interstitial fluid accumulation in the affected extremity. However, recent discoveries have increased the hopes of therapeutic interventions that may promote lymphatic regeneration and function. The purpose of this review is to summarize current experimental pharmacological strategies in the treatment of lymphedema.

Keywords: TH2 cells, CD4+; VEGF-C; doxycycline; lymphedema; tacrolimus; tetracyclines; vascular endothelial growth factor C.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Pharmacological Treatments of Secondary Lymphedema (Created with BioRender). Stav Brown, MD©.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Mechanism of action of LTB4 inhibitors (Created with BioRender).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Mechanism of action of tacrolimus (Created with BioRender).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Mechanism of action of doxycycline (created with BioRender). Adopted from: (Furlong-Silva et al., 2021).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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