Azathioprine is a thiopurine prodrug clinically used for immunosuppression in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and in pharmacological regimens of organ transplantations. Its pharmacological action is based on the release of 6-mercaptopurine, but the biochemical processes underlying this biotransformation have remained obscure. In this investigation, human glutathione transferases (GSTs) f...

Increased risks of lymphoma and skin cancer associated with thiopurine use among patients with inflammatory bowel disease have been shown, but data on the overall cancer risk are limited. We conducted a historical cohort study of 45,986 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (of whom, 5,197 (11%) used azathioprine) in Denmark from 1997 to 2008. We linked registry data on filled drug prescript...

To the Editor In pharmacotherapy of multiple sclerosis (MS), the advantages of oral administration are increasingly being recognised [1]. Long time ago, oral azathioprine was tested in a series of small clinical studies, and two meta-analyses were published that pooled the information available at that time [2,3]. Thereafter, azathioprine has not attracted the interest of pharmaceutical industr...

A model infection with Candida albicans was established in mice. The animals were pretreated for 1 week with azathioprine, given dexamethasone, and then infected intravenously with Candida. Mortality for the group given Candida infection alone was 20%, 38% when azathioprine was added, and 50% when dexamethasone and azathioprine were given with infection. The titers of Candida in most mice were ...

BACKGROUND Leprosy Type 1 reactions are difficult to treat and only 70% of patients respond to steroid treatment. Azathioprine has been used as an immune-suppressant and we tested its efficacy in treating leprosy T1R. METHODOLOGY Randomised controlled trial adding azathioprine to steroid treatment for leprosy reactions. This trial was conducted in four leprosy hospitals in India. Patients wit...

Azathioprine leads to changes in mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and white blood cell (WBC) indices reflecting efficacy or toxicity. Understanding the interactions between bone marrow stem cells and azathioprine could highlight abnormal response patterns as forerunners for hematologic malignancies. This study gives a statistical description of factors influencing the relationship between MCV and ...

Azathioprine has been shown to reduce the steroid requirements of patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Twenty-seven patients treated with azathioprine have now been followed up for 30 months. At the end of this period only 10 were still taking the drug. Maximum steroid reduction occurred within the first 12 months of treatment. Some steroid-sparing effect seemed to persist after the drug ...