Treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes with low-dose oral 6-thioguanine

✍ Scribed by Spitzer, Thomas R. ;Lazarus, Hillard M. ;Crum, Edward D. ;Weisman, Russell

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 374 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0098-1532
• DOI: 10.1002/mpo.2950160105

✦ Synopsis

Several cytotoxic agents when used in vitro in very low concentrations have been shown to induce differentiation of leukemic cells. We treated 18 patients with rnyelodysplastic syndromes with lowdose oral 6-thioguanine (6-TG; 20 to 60 rng daily). Four patients demonstrated significant improvement in peripheral blood counts. An additional three patients had significant reductions in the percentage of leukemic myeloblasts in the marrow without a corresponding improvement in periph-eral counts. With the exception of a fall in the peripheral neutrophil count in four patients requiring dose reductions, no toxicity was observed. Low-dose oral 6-TG gives a response rate in rnyelodysplastic syndromes similar to that of parenteral agents such as cytosine arabinoside. Given the ease of administration and lack of toxicity, oral 6-TG may be a useful treatment modality for these syndromes either alone or in combination with other differentiation-enhancing agents.