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Friday, August 7, 2009
Once thought to be a promising treatment in fighting cancers such as prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, and mesothelioma — the asbestos related lung cancer, thalidomide has proven not to be effective for small cell lung cancer, reports Science Daily.
Even though thalidomide is as an anti-angiogenic drug (targeting the formation of new blood vessels which are needed by tumors to survive and to grow), and has been effective in treating other cancers, it does not improve the survival rate of lung cancer patients. It does, however, increase their risk of blood clots.
Dr. Siow Ming Lee, M.D. of the Department of Oncology, University of London, found, when combined with chemotherapy, thalidomide had made no difference in the survival of patients with small cell lung cancers. SCLC makes up about 15-20 percent of lung cancer patients. Dr. Lee concluded that targeting anti-angiogenesis in SCLC may not work as well as in multiple myeloma or colorectal cancer because of differences in the angiogenic pathways involved in SCLC.
Thalidomide was once banned because it caused severe birth defects.
Thalidomide Treatment for Mesothelioma
Labels: Research News
posted by Your Attorney at 4:29 PM
