Background: Azathioprine is frequently used in achieving and maintaining remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Aim: We performed a prospective study on patients with inflammatory bowel disease receiving azathioprine who were followed up at our hospital, in order to record their adherence to treatment and the frequency of adverse events. Methods: Fifty seven patients (23 males, ...

Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug widely used. Our purpose was to 1) determine whether its associated hepatotoxicity could be attributable to the induction of a necrotic or apoptotic effect in hepatocytes, and 2) elucidate the mechanism involved. To evaluate cellular responses to azathioprine, we used primary culture of isolated rat hepatocytes. Cell metabolic activity, reduced glutathi...

Azathioprine is a synthetic purine analog derived from 6-mercaptopurine. It is a purine antagonist and its active metabolites act by disrupting the function of endogenous purines. It has a cytotoxic and immunosuppressive mechanism of action. It is used in dermatology for treatment of immunobullous diseases, generalized eczematous disorders and photodermatoses. There is an enzyme in the metaboli...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) often require surgery over their clinical course. However, endoscopic and clinical recurrence of disease appear respectively in up to 80% and 30% of patients after one year. Thus, a prophylactic treatment is needed to reduce the possibility of recurrence. Both azathioprine and infliximab have been demonstrated to be effective, but head to h...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS There are limited evidence based data concerning the use of azathioprine in ulcerative colitis. We aimed to compare the efficacy of azathioprine and oral 5-aminosalicylic acid in inducing remission of steroid dependent ulcerative colitis. METHODS Seventy two patients with steroid dependent ulcerative colitis were admitted to this investigator-blind study. Steroid dependenc...

Azathioprine is used in the treatment of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, but its effectiveness has not been evaluated. In the present study 20 patients with moderately severe ophthalmopathy were recruited; 10 patients received azathioprine and the other 10 matched patients served as controls. During the treatment period (lasting 1 year) and 1 year later, no changes were detected in exophthal...