Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Oct 26, 2017; 5(5): 124-131
Published online Oct 26, 2017. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v5.i5.124
Thalidomide and thalidomide analogues in treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Meta-analysis
Khan Rana Sami Ullah, Yu-Lin Xiong, Ying-Lei Miao, Saeed Ummair, Wei Dai
Khan Rana Sami Ullah, Ying-Lei Miao, Wei Dai, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Yunnan Institute of Digestive Disease, Kunming 650032, Yunnan Province, China
Yu-Lin Xiong, Library of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, Yunnan Province, China
Saeed Ummair, Department of Dermatology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, Yunnan Province, China
Author contributions: Sami Ullah KR and Xiong YL contributed equally to this study; Miao YL and Dai W supervised this study; Ummair S also contributed in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors assured no confliction of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Wei Dai, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Yunnan Institute of Digestive Disease, 295 Xichang Road, Kunming 650032, Yunnan Province, China. myldu@sina.com
Telephone: +86-871-65324888
Received: January 21, 2017
Peer-review started: January 22, 2017
First decision: March 8, 2017
Revised: May 5, 2017
Accepted: June 30, 2017
Article in press: July 1, 2017
Published online: October 26, 2017
Processing time: 276 Days and 10 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To examine the efficacy and safety of thalidomide and thalidomide analogues in induction and maintenance of remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

METHODS

A literature search was performed in the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Ovid and the Cochrane Library, and Chinese databases such as the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Wanfang Data. The randomized controlled analysis was performed to assess the effects of thalidomide therapy on inflammatory bowel disease for patients who did show good response with other therapies.

RESULTS

Three studies (n = 212) met the inclusion criteria were used in this Meta-analysis. No difference was found between thalidomide/thalidomide analogues and placebo in the induction of remission (RR = 1.36, 95%CI: 0.83-2.22, P = 0.22), the induction of clinical response (RR = 1.14, 95%CI: 0.75-1.72, P = 0.54) and the induction of adverse events (RR = 1.41, 95%CI: 0.99-2.02, P = 0.06).

CONCLUSION

Currently, there is not enough evidence to support use of thalidomide or its analogue for the treatment in patients of any age with IBD. However, it warrants a reanalysis when more data become available.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease; Thalidomide; Thalidomide analogues; Treatment; Efficacy; Safety; Meta-analysis

Core tip: The aim of this meta-analysis is to examine the efficacy and safety of thalidomide and thalidomide analogues for induction and maintenance of remission in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The literature was searched in the databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid and the Cochrane Library, and Chinese databases. The Randomized Controlled Trials was performed during this analysis to assess the effects of thalidomide therapy on IBD patients that did show good response with other therapies. Weighted pooled outcomes were synthesized with a fixed-effects model to account for clinical heterogeneity. This meta-analysis showed that there is not enough evidence to support the use of thalidomide or its analogues in the treatment of IBD for patients of any age.