Table I.

Biological effects of thalidomide and its analogues.

Biological effect	Implementation
Cytokine elaboration and anti-inflammatory effect	Decreased or increased levels of TNF-α, TGF-β, IL-1β, IL-6 and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor
T cell and natural killer cell function regulation	T cell proliferation, T helper cells skewing, augmentation of the cytotoxic effector, regulatory T cell inhibition and NK cell proliferation and function
Anti-angiogenic properties	Downregulation of adhesion molecules (such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1), increase in PDGF-B expression; decreased paracrine production of pro-angiogenic VEGF and IL-6

TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TGF, transforming growth factor; IL, interleukin; NK, natural killer; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.