Chromosomal analysLs of peripheral leukocytes in patients being treated with nitrogen mustard, 6-mercaptopurine, and A649 demonstrated an increase in i>olyploidy, including cells show ing endoreduplication. With nitrogen mustard, up to 15% of cells cultured were polyploids; with 6-mercaptopurine, 9% polyploidy was evident; anrl when A-649 was used, up to 14% polyploidy was seen. Chromosomal dam...

Thioguanine derivatives, azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine, represent major drugs in the treatment of chronic active inflammatory bowel disease. They are effective in two-thirds of the patients and safe over the long term in patients who can tolerate them (80-90%). Recent progress in understanding the metabolism of these drugs and its implication in clinical practice have brought up new tools a...

CONTEXT The use of thiopurine drugs such as azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine has become quite common in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, transplantation and acute leukemias. Despite their effectiveness, these drugs are capable of causing drug-induced toxicity with the risk of death by myelosuppression. It is now known that these complications occur because of genetic polymorphisms ...

Epidemiology From data collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute, it is estimated that there were 5330 cases of newly diagnosed ALL (3150 in males and 2180 in females) in 2010 in the United States, approximately 60% of which were diagnosed in patients younger than 20 years of age.[1] Hence, while the total number of cases of leu...