Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is fatal without exception, which largely accounts for the clinical willingness to bring harmful treatments to bear on it. Some first-line chemotherapeutic regimens entail serious or irreversible side effects, as do many drugs being considered for novel use against mesothelioma.
A case in point is thalidomide, an immunomodulator known for its use as a sedative among pregnant women in the 1950s and its subsequently discovered potency as a birth defect agent. Today, thalidomide is sometimes prescribed as part of chemotherapy for certain cancers.
According to an article published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Phase II and III trials are currently being conducted to determine whether this compound can be used as part of multi-drug attack on MPM growth.
Studies have shown that thalidomide may slow the progress of the disease, though not by much. A report appearing in the journal Lung Cancer found that one-quarter of patients dosed with the drug demonstrated that some disease stability for about six months (though the average survival time was less than a year).
According to the National Institutes of Health, thalidomide use can lead to neurotoxicity, nerve damage or blood clots - and, as is well known about the drug, it radically increases the risk of birth defects when taken during pregnancy. For now, its effect on mesothelioma is unclear.
A case in point is thalidomide, an immunomodulator known for its use as a sedative among pregnant women in the 1950s and its subsequently discovered potency as a birth defect agent. Today, thalidomide is sometimes prescribed as part of chemotherapy for certain cancers.
According to an article published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Phase II and III trials are currently being conducted to determine whether this compound can be used as part of multi-drug attack on MPM growth.
Studies have shown that thalidomide may slow the progress of the disease, though not by much. A report appearing in the journal Lung Cancer found that one-quarter of patients dosed with the drug demonstrated that some disease stability for about six months (though the average survival time was less than a year).
According to the National Institutes of Health, thalidomide use can lead to neurotoxicity, nerve damage or blood clots - and, as is well known about the drug, it radically increases the risk of birth defects when taken during pregnancy. For now, its effect on mesothelioma is unclear.
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