Vesnarinone, a new inotropic agent, inhibits cytokine production by stimulated human blood from patients with heart failure.

Abstract

Although the number of study patients was small and the results are preliminary, these findings provide evidence that vesnarinone plays an important role in the regulation of cytokines and suggest that the reduction of cytokine release may contribute to the beneficial effects of the drug in the treatment of heart failure. Furthermore, the measurement of cytokines may be useful in predicting the occurrence of neutropenia, which has been occasionally reported in patients treated with vesnarinone.