The therapeutic efficacy of thalidomide ñ a derivative of glutamic acid ñ has been studied in numerous trials on refractory/relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) patients (1, 2). They showed that single-agent thalidomide can induce a partial response in approximately 30% of patients with refractory myeloma. The combination of thalido-mide with dexamethasone is active in approximately 50% of patients w...

Background: Human β-like globin genes regulaon during development from embyonic to adult stage results in generaon of different types of hemoglobin with different funcons. As β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease are disorders of β-globin chain, epigenec drugs such as thalidomide and sodium butyrate which can induce γ-globin gene are considered as a novel therapeuc approach. Drugs effec...

Dose-limiting diarrhea and myelosuppression compromise the success of irinotecan (7-ethyl-10-[4-[1-piperidino]-1-piperidino]carbonyloxycamptothecin) (CPT-11)-based chemotherapy. A recent pilot study indicates that thalidomide attenuates the toxicity of CPT-11 in cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate whether coadministered thalidomide modulated the toxicities of CPT-11 and the underly...

In the late 1950s thalidomide was synthesized and independently introduced in Germany, Great Britain and Japan as a potent sedative drug with few negative side-effects. In 1961 reports came from Germany, Australia and Great Britain (Kosenow and Pfeiffer 1961, MsBride 1961, Wiedeman 1961, Lenz 1962, Smithells 1962) that children were being born with serious malformations that might be associated...

Fifty-six adult beagle dogs (28 male, 28 female) were orally administered thalidomide at 43, 200, or 1000 mg/kg/day for 53 weeks. Sixteen (2/sex/dose group) and 32 (4/sex/dose group) dogs were euthanized and necropsied after 26 and 53 weeks of dosing, respectively. The remaining 8 animals (2/sex/group; high-dose and control groups) were dosed for 53 weeks, euthanized, and necropsied at 58 weeks...

BACKGROUND Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by recurrent epistaxis, mucocutaneous telangiectasia, and arteriovenous malformations. The efficacy of traditional treatments for HHT is very limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic role of thalidomide in HHT patients and the effect in FLI-EGFP transgenic zebrafish mod...

Studies conducted in our lab have indicated that thalidomide cytotoxicity in the KG-1a human acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cell line was enhanced by combining it with arsenic trioxide. The current investigation was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of thalidomide either alone or in combination with arsenic trioxide on the release of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and vascular endoth...

Tumour necrosis factor á (TNFá), a key cytokine involved in the host immune response, also contributes to the pathogenesis of both infectious and autoimmune diseases. To ameliorate the pathology resulting from TNFá in these clinical settings, strategies for the inhibition of this cytokine have been developed. Our previous work has shown that the drug thalidomide is a partial inhibitor of TNFá p...

Introduction. Thalidomide has been associated with both venous and arterial thrombotic events. Case Presentation. A 66-years old man during thalidomide therapy for myeloma experienced acute right arm ischemia, emergently treated with thrombectomy and, on postoperative day one left side weakness with right internal carotid thrombosis. Discussion. Because of the increased risk of arterial thrombo...

Thalidomide was evaluated for its in vitro activity against Encephalitozoon species by using the MRC-5 cell system. A cytotoxic effect was observed for concentrations of 10(1) microg/ml (P < 10(5)) and 5 microg/ml (P < 10(5)). Thalidomide did not significantly inhibit the growth of any of the microsporidia under study. These data suggest that thalidomide is not an etiologic treatment in microsp...