Safety & Efficacy of Thalidomide in Children With Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia

Summary

Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia (TDT) is emerging as a global public health concern. Hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only curative treatment. But its adoption is limited due to lack of Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matched donor, experienced centers and high initial cost. So, researches are going on in search of an effective, safe, easily available treatment option. Thalidomide a Fetal Hemoglobin (HbF) inducing drug shown to be effective in treatment of TDT patients in few case reports and small scale prospective and retrospective studies. However, most of these researches were done in adolescent and adult population. No randomized control trial was done to determine the safety and efficacy of Thalidomide in TDT children. So, this study will predict the safety and efficacy of Thalidomide in TDT children and will play an important role in planning a cost effective and affordable treatment option for TDT children. This single centered non blinded quasi randomized clinical trial will be conducted at the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Bangladesh for one year of period. The objective of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of Thalidomide in TDT children 30 transfusion dependent thalassemia children of 3-18 years old will be included. This study will involve minimum physical risk to the patient. Written informed consent will be taken from parents or study subjects after brief explanation of the purpose and procedure. They will also be informed about the freedom to participate or not to participate at any time. Privacy and confidentiality will be safe guarded. History regarding age, sex, height, weight of these patients will be taken. Through physical examinations and laboratory investigations including complete blood count (CBC), Hb electrophoresis, serum Ferritin, serum creatinine, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) will be done. Data will be collected in a predesigned questionnaire and will be kept confidential. Statistical analysis will be done using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) software .

Timeline

Start

2023-03-01

Primary completion

2024-02-28

Completion

2024-02-28

Publications

• Background Fard AD, Hosseini SA, Shahjahani M, Salari F, Jaseb K. Evaluation of Novel Fetal Hemoglobin Inducer Drugs in Treatment of beta-Hemoglobinopathy Disorders. Int J Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Res. 2013;7(3):47-54.
• Background Farmakis D, Porter J, Taher A, Domenica Cappellini M, Angastiniotis M, Eleftheriou A. 2021 Thalassaemia International Federation Guidelines for the Management of Transfusion-dependent Thalassemia. Hemasphere. 2022 Jul 29;6(8):e732. doi: 10.1097/HS9.0000000000000732. eCollection 2022 Aug.
• Background Fozza C, Pardini S, Giannico DB, Targhetta C, Di Tucci AA, Dessalvi P, Angelucci E, Dore F. Dramatic erythroid response to low-dose thalidomide in two patients with transfusion independent thalassemia and severe post-transfusional alloimmune hemolysis. Am J Hematol. 2015 Jul;90(7):E141. doi: 10.1002/ajh.24030. No abstract available.
• Background Hossain MS, Raheem E, Sultana TA, Ferdous S, Nahar N, Islam S, Arifuzzaman M, Razzaque MA, Alam R, Aziz S, Khatun H, Rahim A, Morshed M. Thalassemias in South Asia: clinical lessons learnt from Bangladesh. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2017 May 18;12(1):93. doi: 10.1186/s13023-017-0643-z.
• Background Jain M, Chakrabarti P, Dolai TK, Ghosh P, Mandal PK, Baul SN, De R. Comparison of efficacy and safety of thalidomide vs hydroxyurea in patients with Hb E-beta thalassemia - a pilot study from a tertiary care Centre of India. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2021 May;88:102544. doi: 10.1016/j.bcmd.2021.102544. Epub 2021 Feb 3.
• Background Lu Y, Wei Z, Yang G, Lai Y, Liu R. Investigating the Efficacy and Safety of Thalidomide for Treating Patients With ss-Thalassemia: A Meta-Analysis. Front Pharmacol. 2022 Jan 11;12:814302. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.814302. eCollection 2021.
• Background Masera N, Tavecchia L, Capra M, Cazzaniga G, Vimercati C, Pozzi L, Biondi A, Masera G. Optimal response to thalidomide in a patient with thalassaemia major resistant to conventional therapy. Blood Transfus. 2010 Jan;8(1):63-5. doi: 10.2450/2009.0102-09. No abstract available.
• Background Rachmilewitz EA, Giardina PJ. How I treat thalassemia. Blood. 2011 Sep 29;118(13):3479-88. doi: 10.1182/blood-2010-08-300335. Epub 2011 Aug 2.
• Background Shah FT, Sayani F, Trompeter S, Drasar E, Piga A. Challenges of blood transfusions in beta-thalassemia. Blood Rev. 2019 Sep;37:100588. doi: 10.1016/j.blre.2019.100588. Epub 2019 Jul 6.
• Background Taher A, Vichinsky E, Musallam K, Cappellini MD, Viprakasit V, authors. Weatherall D, editor. Guidelines for the Management of Non Transfusion Dependent Thalassaemia (NTDT) [Internet]. Nicosia (Cyprus): Thalassaemia International Federation; 2013. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK190453/
• Background Thompson AA, Walters MC, Kwiatkowski J, Rasko JEJ, Ribeil JA, Hongeng S, Magrin E, Schiller GJ, Payen E, Semeraro M, Moshous D, Lefrere F, Puy H, Bourget P, Magnani A, Caccavelli L, Diana JS, Suarez F, Monpoux F, Brousse V, Poirot C, Brouzes C, Meritet JF, Pondarre C, Beuzard Y, Chretien S, Lefebvre T, Teachey DT, Anurathapan U, Ho PJ, von Kalle C, Kletzel M, Vichinsky E, Soni S, Veres G, Negre O, Ross RW, Davidson D, Petrusich A, Sandler L, Asmal M, Hermine O, De Montalembert M, Hacein-Bey-Abina S, Blanche S, Leboulch P, Cavazzana M. Gene Therapy in Patients with Transfusion-Dependent beta-Thalassemia. N Engl J Med. 2018 Apr 19;378(16):1479-1493. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1705342.
• Background Weatherall DJ. The Evolving Spectrum of the Epidemiology of Thalassemia. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2018 Apr;32(2):165-175. doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2017.11.008.
• Background Wolman IJ, Ortolani M. Some clinical features of Cooley's anemia patients as related to transfusion schedules. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1969 Nov 20;165(1):407-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1969.tb27811.x. No abstract available.
• Background Yassin AK. Promising Response to Thalidomide in Symptomatic beta-Thalassemia. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus. 2020 Apr;36(2):337-341. doi: 10.1007/s12288-019-01231-5. Epub 2019 Nov 18.
• Results Aerbajinai W, Zhu J, Gao Z, Chin K, Rodgers GP. Thalidomide induces gamma-globin gene expression through increased reactive oxygen species-mediated p38 MAPK signaling and histone H4 acetylation in adult erythropoiesis. Blood. 2007 Oct 15;110(8):2864-71. doi: 10.1182/blood-2007-01-065201. Epub 2007 Jul 9.
• Results Aguilar-Lopez LB, Delgado-Lamas JL, Rubio-Jurado B, Perea FJ, Ibarra B. Thalidomide therapy in a patient with thalassemia major. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2008 Jul-Aug;41(1):136-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bcmd.2008.03.001. Epub 2008 Apr 24. No abstract available.
• Results Bou-Fakhredin R, De Franceschi L, Motta I, Cappellini MD, Taher AT. Pharmacological Induction of Fetal Hemoglobin in beta-Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease: An Updated Perspective. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022 Jun 16;15(6):753. doi: 10.3390/ph15060753.
• Results Cappellini MD, Porter JB, Viprakasit V, Taher AT. A paradigm shift on beta-thalassaemia treatment: How will we manage this old disease with new therapies? Blood Rev. 2018 Jul;32(4):300-311. doi: 10.1016/j.blre.2018.02.001. Epub 2018 Feb 12.
• Results Chen JM, Zhu WJ, Liu J, Wang GZ, Chen XQ, Tan Y, Xu WW, Qu LW, Li JY, Yang HJ, Huang L, Cai N, Wang WD, Huang K, Xu JQ, Li GH, He S, Luo TY, Huang Y, Liu SH, Wu WQ, Lu QY, Zhou MG, Chen SY, Li RL, Hu ML, Huang Y, Wei JH, Li JM, Chen SJ, Zhou GB. Safety and efficacy of thalidomide in patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia: a randomized clinical trial. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2021 Nov 18;6(1):405. doi: 10.1038/s41392-021-00811-0.
• Results Costa E, Cappellini MD, Rivella S, Chilin A, Alessi E, Riccaboni M, Leufkens HGM, Luzzatto L. Emergent treatments for beta-thalassemia and orphan drug legislations. Drug Discov Today. 2022 Nov;27(11):103342. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2022.103342. Epub 2022 Sep 1.

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