| The effects of Biaxin on inflammatory cytokines |
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| By Bob Meyer |
Here are some medical abstracts that describe the effects of Biaxin (i.e. clarithromycin) on inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha. Note that not only does Biaxin suppress IL-6 to some degree, it also suppresses TNF-alpha as does thalidomide and PGE2 (i.e. prostaglandin E2) as do COX-2 inhibitors such as celecoxib or Vioxx. Thus Biaxin seems to supplement the activity of other drugs that act against MM.
Note also that Biaxin has now also been discovered to modulate the ratio of T helper cells (Th1 versus Th2). These are thought to help control the immune response of individuals and the Th1 to Th2 ratio in MM patients has been found to be badly out of balance. Thus it may be that Biaxin helps in this regard as well.
In any event, Biaxin is mostly effective as a supplement to dex + thalidomide. One can only suppose that by providing additional suppression of IL-6 and TNF-alpha it somewhat improves the chances of a good response (by about 25-30% according to some clinical studies) and also allows lower doses of thalidomide and dex to be used in many cases.
Here are the abstracts.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list _uids=10604943&dopt=Abstract
http://tinyurl.com/owy4 (short version of above)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list _uids=10221415&dopt=Abstract
http://tinyurl.com/owy0 (short version of above)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list _uids=11814768&dopt=Abstract
http://tinyurl.com/owxx (short version of above)
