title: Immunomodulatory treatment with thalidomide in experimental leptospirosis in Golden Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The benefit of antibiotics in leptospirosis is limited when treatment is started four days after symptoms appear, and new adjuvant therapeutic options are urgently needed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) were infected by Leptospira interrogans strain L1-130, and groups were assigned based on no treatment (NONE), thalidomide only (TAL), ampicillin only (AMP) or both (AMP-TAL). Treatment was started two days after the onset of symptoms (experiment 1) and immediately after detection of the first death (experiment 2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experiment 1: all hamsters from the groups AMP and AMP-TAL survived (n=8), while all hamsters from groups NONE (n=6) and TAL (n=8) died. The AMP and the AMP-TAL groups showed no renal or liver pathology and absent or very low leptospiral burden in target organs. Experiment 2: lethal outcome was observed in 6/6 hamsters in the NONE group, 8/8 in the TAL group, and 6/8 in both the AMP and AMP-TAL groups. Thalidomide showed no survival benefit when compared to hamsters treated with ampicillin alone. The TAL, AMP and AMP-TAL groups had very low tissue leptospiral counts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thalidomide had minimal impact on survival in the late treatment of leptospirosis hamster model.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, BA, 40296-710, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciane Marieta
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Julio Oliveira
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Macedo
authors.forename: Everton Cruz
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: de Azevedo
authors.forename: Cleiton Silva
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Marina de Queiroz
authors.initials: Mde Q
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.forename: Andréia Carvalho
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Mitermayer Galvão
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: dos Reis
authors.forename: Daniel Abensur
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Athanazio
mesh_terms: D000667:Ampicillin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D008647:Mesocricetus; D013792:Thalidomide / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D013792:Thalidomide; D000667:Ampicillin
keywords: Animal disease models; Leptospira; Leptospirosis; Mesocricetus auratus; Thalidomide