Thalidomide and Revlimid

[Birgitta-A]

Hi All,
Here is a new article about Thalidomide and Revlimid (lenalidomide)

Thalidomide:
Response to Thalidomide is almost exclusively seen on red blood cells and is mainly observed in patients with no excess of marrow blasts.

Pretreatment vascular endothelial growth factor levels were lower in responders.

Microvessel density (tumor vasculature) decreased in responders.

Apoptosis (programmed cell death) decreased in responders.

Revlimid to patients without del5q
Favorable karyotype was associated with better response.

Limited red blood cell transfusion dependency was associated with better response.

A molecular signature predicting response was identified, consisting of a cohesive set of erythroid-specific genes with decreased expression in responders, suggesting that a defect in erythroid differentiation underlies the response.

http://asheducationbook.hematologyli...011/1/556.full

The authors don't tell us much about the "molecular signature predicting response".
Kind regards
Birgitta-A