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Chemical Inactivation of the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Cereblon by Pomalidomide-based Homo-PROTACs
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Thalidomide and tuberculosis

L M Fu1, C S Fu-Liu

  • 1Pacific Tuberculosis and Cancer Research Organization, Los Angeles, California, USA. lifu@patcar.org

The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease : the Official Journal of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
|July 10, 2002
PubMed

The anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of thalidomide have led scientists to explore its clinical therapeutic values. Thalidomide is now being considered as an adjuvant treatment for tuberculosis. This literature review examines the drug's mechanism of action and clinical applications. Thalidomide affects cytokine production and T lymphocyte proliferation. It appears that thalidomide suppresses TNF-alpha production by macrophages and thereby reduces inflammatory response. Thalidomide elevates the IFN-gamma level and modulates several other cytokines as well, noteworthily IL-2 and IL-12. Thalidomide costimulates T lymphocytes, with greater effect on CD8+ than on CD4+ T cells. This finding is important, since CD8+ T cells have been shown to be contributory to the protective immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. The clinical application of thalidomide as part of standard tuberculosis therapy is inconclusive amid variability among reports. However, thalidomide has been shown to be an effective adjuvant for tuberculosis patients complicated with severe inflammatory reaction or wasting conditions.

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