pentostatin and Rheumatic-Diseases

Autoimmune rheumatologic disease has a wide range of clinical expression that occasionally can be disabling. Patients with visceral organ involvement are exposed to significant morbidity and mortality if effective therapy is not forthcoming. The mainstay of therapy has been immunosuppression. However, some patients fail to respond to conventional doses of corticosteroids, methotrexate, or cyclophosphamide, and new approaches are needed for these patients. One new approach involves the use of intensified immunosuppression by combining cyclophosphamide with purine nucleoside analogs, including the adenosine deaminase inhibitor pentostatin (Nipent; SuperGen, San Ramon, CA).

Topics: Adenosine Deaminase Inhibitors; Antirheumatic Agents; Autoimmune Diseases; Cyclophosphamide; Drug Combinations; Enzyme Inhibitors; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Methotrexate; Pentostatin; Purine Nucleosides; Rheumatic Diseases