Mice With ALS Benefit From Thalidomide

Mice with a genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treated with oral thalidomide or the closely related drug lenalidomide survived slightly longer than untreated mice, report Mahmoud Kiaei at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York and colleagues. MDA grantee M. Flint Beal, at the same institution, was on the study team.

Thalidomide appears to reduce levels of TNF-alpha, an inflammation-associated protein. The treated mice had less TNF-alpha in their spinal cords than did untreated mice.

Mice receiving thalidomide lived between 15 days (12 percent) and 21 days (16 percent) longer than untreated mice, and those treated with lenalidomide lived slightly longer still.

Thalidomide is available as a drug, but it causes severe birth defects if taken during pregnancy and must be used with meticulous contraception.