Three hundred and eleven patients with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis were observed over an 11-year period. This group is of particular interest since 214 patients were given cytotoxic therapy, 203 were treated with azathioprine (52 of these also received chlorambucil or cyclophosphamide), and 11 were treated with cyclophosphamide or chlorambucil alone. Forty-six patients died. This...

On March 20, 2008, bendamustine HCl (Treanda, Cephalon, Inc.) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This approval was based on a randomized, multicenter trial comparing the test drug (n = 162) to chlorambucil (n = 157) as a first line treatment (1). Overall response rates (ORR) were 68% and 31% for bendamustine and chlor...

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) lymphocyte response to nitrogen mustard therapy. DNA-PK is a nuclear serine/threonine kinase that functions in DNA double-strand break repair and in the joining process in recombination mechanisms. In a series of 34 patients with B-CLL, either untreated (n 5 ...

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) lymphocyte response to nitrogen mustard therapy. DNA-PK is a nuclear serine/threonine kinase that functions in DNA double-strand break repair and in the joining process in recombination mechanisms. In a series of 34 patients with B-CLL, either untreated (n = ...

OBJECTIVE To describe the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and cytogenetic abnormalities that occur in patients who have been treated with alkylating drugs for their rheumatic disease. METHODS Patients with rheumatic disease who developed MDS after current or previous treatment with alkylating drugs were selected for evaluation by chart review and cytogenetic studies. RESULTS Eight patients ...

Chlorambucil (CLB) treatment is used in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) but resistance to CLB develops in association with accelerated repair of CLB-induced DNA damage. Phosphorylated histone H2AX (gammaH2AX) is located at DNA double-strand break (DSB) sites; furthermore, it recruits and retains damage-responsive proteins. This damage can be repaired by nonhomologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ) a...

We identified five structurally related dimethane sulfonates with putative selective cytotoxicity in renal cancer cell lines. These compounds have a hydrophobic moiety linked to a predicted alkylating group. A COMPARE analysis with the National Cancer Institute Anticancer Drug Screen standard agent database found significant correlations between the IC50 of the test compounds and the IC50 of al...

Cold agglutinin immunohaemolytic anaemia (CAIA) responds poorly to standard treatment. We report a case of marginal zone lymphoma complicated by CAIA that responded to rituximab after failing to respond to corticosteroids and chlorambucil.

Two cases of mucosa associated lymphoma (pseudolymphoma) of the lung are described which highlight the varied clinical and radiological features of this rare pulmonary condition. Following chemotherapy with prednisolone and chlorambucil, both patients are disease free three years later.