BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Mechanism identified behind thalidomide-induced birth defects

August 3, 2018 9:35 PM UTC

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute uncovered the mechanistic pathway by which thalidomide and two related analogs cause severe fetal harm, answering a long-held question about the three teratogenic drugs now used as cancer therapies.

The insight comes more than 60 years after thalidomide was confirmed to have caused birth defects in thousands of children whose mothers took the drug for morning sickness. The drug was banned worldwide in the 1960s. However, the molecular basis for its teratogenic effects was unknown...