Thalidomide

[surfer]

Has anyone heard or tried Thalidomide? My boyfriend is starting it today for treatment of a rare sarcoma, i was hoping someone had some background on it. thanks.

[jessica]

thalidomide is an antiangiogenic...angiogenesis is when the tumor outgrows its own blood supply & develops new blood vessels to help continue to feed & support itself. an anti-angiogenic prevents the tumor to being able to "grow" new blood vessels. without sufficient blood supply, the tumor will die.
you may be familiar w/thalidomide from the 60's (?-don't know about the correct time frame?)when it was given to pregnant women as an antinausea med, the thalidomide caused the new blood vessels in the arms & legs of the developing fetus to die, resulting in severe birth defects...babies born without arms & legs, or under developed extremities.as a result, thalidomide was shelved for many years, & now is prescribed only under very specific guidelines.
the development of antiangiogenics as a cancer therapy is a relatively new area of research & I can't remember the name of the newest drug in development...i think it's iressa...not sure though.
hope this info is helpful. Good luck to you both.
prayers, faith & courage!

[Christine MH]

This news item might be of interest:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_25360.html