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Clinical efficacy and antiangiogenic activity of thalidomide in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia. A pilot study

Leukemia volume 16, pages 1609–1614 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Increased neoangiogenesis has been reported in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM). Thus we studied the effects of thalidomide, an antiangiogenic drug, in 12 MMM patients. Before treatment, all the cases showed a significantly increased micro-vessel density (MVD); in all eight tested cases bFGF and VEGF plasma levels were higher than controls. All patients presented disease progression in the last 3 months with standard therapy, regarding splenomegaly, anemia and/or thrombocytopenia and/or hyperleukocytosis. Thalidomide was administered at daily doses increasing from 100 to 600 mg. Eleven out of 12 patients were evaluable. No progression of disease was seen during the treatment in any case. In particular, spleen size decreased in 7/11 patients, anemia improved in 3/4 (two are now transfusion independent), thrombocytopenia in 2/2 and hyperleukocytosis in 2/5 patients. Side-effects were frequent, although not severe. After treatment, VEGF and bFGF plasma levels varied widely and in selected cases decreased. In particular, VEGF and/or bFGF decreased in 4/5 responders and in 1/3 non-responders. Moreover, MVD significantly decreased in all the responders evaluated after treatment. We conclude that thalidomide is a feasible therapy in MMM patients and looks promising at least to control the growth progression of disease.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by MURST ex 60% (S Tura) and FONDI ex 40% (S Tura). The authors wish to thank Ms Milena Piccioli and Ms Federica Sandri for their contribution. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Alessandro Piccaluga.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hematology and Clinical Oncology ‘L e A Seràgnoli’, University of Bologna, Italy

    PP Piccaluga, T Grafone, A Isidori, M Malagola, C Finelli, G Martinelli, P Ricci, M Baccarani & S Tura

  2. Department of Hematology, San Salvatore Hospital, Pesaro, Italy

    G Visani

  3. Service of Pathologic Anatomy and Hematopathology, University of Bologna, Italy

    SA Pileri & S Ascani

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  1. PP Piccaluga
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  2. G Visani
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Piccaluga, P., Visani, G., Pileri, S. et al. Clinical efficacy and antiangiogenic activity of thalidomide in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia. A pilot study. Leukemia 16, 1609–1614 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402596

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402596

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