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Challenges
Thalidomide-induced limb defects: resolving a 50-year-old puzzle
Article first published online: 17 NOV 2009
DOI: 10.1002/bies.200900103
Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Vargesson, N. (2009), Thalidomide-induced limb defects: resolving a 50-year-old puzzle. Bioessays, 31: 1327–1336. doi: 10.1002/bies.200900103
Publication History
- Issue published online: 17 NOV 2009
- Article first published online: 17 NOV 2009
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- antiangiogenesis;
- chick limb development;
- CPS49;
- phocomelia;
- thalidomide analogue;
- therapeutics
Abstract
Despite the recent discovery that thalidomide causes limb defects by targeting highly angiogenic, immature blood vessels, several challenges still remain and new ones have arisen. These include understanding the drug's species specificity, determining molecular target(s) in the endothelial cell, shedding light on the molecular basis of phocomelia and producing a form of the drug that is clinically effective without having side effects. Now that the trigger of thalidomide-induced teratogenesis has been uncovered, a framework is proposed, incorporating and uniting previous models of thalidomide action, explaining how thalidomide causes not just limb defects, but also all the other defects it induces.