mercaptopurine and Brain-Diseases

Langerhans cell histiocytosis results from the abnormal accumulation of a class of dendritic cells normally found in the skin, which proliferate in many organ systems along with lymphocytes, macrophages and eosinophils. Standard therapy for Langerhans cell histiocytosis includes vinblastine and prednisone with or without methotrexate and mercaptopurine, depending on the extent of disease. Effective therapies for patients unresponsive to the above include cytosine arabinoside and cladribine. Thalidomide has proven useful for patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the skin and/or bone. Emerging therapies include the use of monoclonal antibodies against the CD1a or CD52 epitopes found on Langerhans cells. Specific therapies directed against the cytokines that are apparently critical to the abnormal proliferation have not yet been defined.

Topics: Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antimetabolites; Brain Diseases; Cell Proliferation; Cladribine; Cytarabine; Drug Therapy, Combination; Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Mercaptopurine; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Prednisone; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Risk Factors; Secondary Prevention; Thalidomide; Vinblastine

Plasma cell granulomas are a rare form of idiopathic inflammatory pseudotumors often characterized by non-neoplastic proliferation of plasma cells, clinically mimicking a neoplastic process. Pseudotumors of the central nervous system, however, are exceptional and rare. The authors describe a 14-year-old girl with a mass lesion extending medially along the cavernous sinus into the right middle cranial fossa and pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossae. The authors review the current literature and discuss successful treatment with methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine after recurrence of disease following radiation therapy and steroids.

Topics: Adolescent; Brain Diseases; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Granuloma, Plasma Cell; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Recurrence

Rimantadine, ribavirin, and 6-mercapto-9-(tetrahydro-2-furyl)purine, administered intraperitoneally every 8 h for 7 days starting minutes after virus challenge, had no effect on survival and mean survival time of BALB/c mice inoculated intracranially with dengue virus type 2. In contrast, intraperitoneal treatment with ribavirin 2',3',5'-triacetate, a lipophilic analog of ribavirin, effected significant increases in both mean survival time and survival rate, suggesting that ribavirin 2',3',5'-triacetate may be superior to rabavirin for treatment of viral diseases of the brain.

Topics: Adamantane; Animals; Brain Diseases; Dengue; Female; Mercaptopurine; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Rimantadine

An analysis of 66 children with ALL treated during the last 10 years shows an increase in medium survival time from 27.1 +/- 17.8 months to so far 39.3 +/- 15.1 months after the introduction of preventive CNS therapy. In the group with preventive CNS therapy both CNS relapses and hematological relapses are markedly reduced. Furthermore, in the group with preventive CNS therapy, patients initially treated with 3 drugs obviously survive longer than patients initially treated with only 2 drugs. Thus our study shows the importance of the quality of first remission for the further outcome of a patient with leukemia.

Topics: Brain Diseases; Child; Cyclophosphamide; Humans; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Life Expectancy; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Methylprednisolone; Remission, Spontaneous; Vincristine

Topics: Brain Damage, Chronic; Brain Diseases; Child; Humans; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic; Mercaptopurine

Topics: Bone Marrow Examination; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Injections, Spinal; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Male; Meninges; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Remission, Spontaneous; Vincristine

Topics: Adolescent; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Brain Diseases; Child; Child, Preschool; Cyclophosphamide; Electroencephalography; Humans; Infant; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Prednisone; Vincristine

Topics: Adolescent; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System; Child; Cytarabine; Diagnosis, Differential; Electroencephalography; Humans; Injections, Spinal; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Male; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Prednisone

Topics: Brain Diseases; Carbohydrates; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins; Cranial Nerves; Folic Acid Antagonists; Headache; Hematocrit; Humans; Injections; Injections, Spinal; Leukemia; Leukocyte Count; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Prednisone; Seizures; Toxicology