The glutamic acid derivative thalidomide is a transcriptional inhibitor of TNF-alpha but is also known to affect human blood vessels, which may underlie its teratogenicity. Thalidomide has been used in the treatment of refractory Crohn's disease (CD), but the therapeutic mechanism is not defined. We examined the effect of thalidomide on primary cultures of human intestinal microvascular endothe...

Apart from having written an inglorious chapter in the history of medicine, thalidomide is currently being intensely studied because of its multidimensional activity. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of thalidomide on the skeletal system in ovariectomized and non-ovariectomized rats. The experiments were carried out with female Wistar rats, divided into eight groups: sham-operat...

Thalidomide has been reported to inhibit the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and nitric oxide (NO) that are involved in the down-regulation of hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) induced by endotoxin. In the present study, we investigated the effects of thalidomide on endotoxin-induced decreases in the activity and expression of hepatic CYP3A2 in rats. Thalidomide (50 mg/kg) was...

Thalidomide may be used as a treatment option for pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Herein, we aimed to report a patient who was treated well with thalidomide and whose diagnosis was PG with MDS. A 61-year-old man with painless ecchymotic lesions in his right upper extremity was admitted to the hospital in Isparta, Turkey, in January 2015. The lesions were diagnosed ...

Since the first observations of hypoplastic and aplastic thalidomide deformities in infants (McBride, 1961; Lenz, 1962), the literature on this subject has grown to many hundreds of communications. Experimental investigations in almost all cases have been undertaken to show whether thalidomide and its metabolites have any teratogenic effects in experimental animals. Numerous review papers are a...

BACKGROUND Thalidomide is known to have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory actions. However, the effect and the anti-asthmatic mechanism of thalidomide in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airways are not fully understood. OBJECTIVE This study is designed to determine the effect and the potential mechanism of thalidomide in the pathogenesis of asthmatic airways using animal model of allergic ...

BACKGROUND Thalidomide is active in multiple myeloma and is associated with minimal myelosuppression, making it a good candidate for induction therapy prior to high-dose therapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation. DESIGN AND METHODS Oral cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone was compared with infusional cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone in patient...

BACKGROUND The combination of melphalan and prednisone has been accepted as standard treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) because most studies demonstrate only minimal survival benefit of combination chemotherapy regimens when compared with melphalan and prednisone. Despite modest gains with more intensive myeloablative regimens for certain subgroups, myeloma remains incurable. In 1999, investig...

BACKGROUND It has been reported that thalidomide may be effective in treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). AIM To review the evidence examining the efficacy and safety of thalidomide for inducing and maintaining remission in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, PubMed (1950-August 2014), EMBASE ...

Thalidomide is increasingly being used as adjuvant therapy for patients with mycobacterial and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. The T-helper (Th)1 cytokine-Th2 cytokine balance critically determines the outcomes of these diseases. To obtain insight into the effect of thalidomide on the capacity of lymphocytes to produce Th1 and Th2 cytokines, six healthy volunteers received an ora...