Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin believe an antifungal drug on the market for 40 years could someday be an inexpensive treatment option for cancer. In various iterations, it is used to treat both people and plants.
The scientists worked with thiabendazole, an FDA-approved drug that went generic a long time ago. The essence of their finding: In mice, the drug killed off some newly established blood vessels connected to fibrosarcoma tumors, which are cancers of the connective tissue, as the researchers note. The result slashed subsequent tumor-related blood vessel growth 50%. Separately the drug also reduced the rate of tumor growth to a crawl. Details of their work are in the journal PLoS Biology.
It may be a long time before the drug reaches humans as a cancer treatment or a drug to be given in combination with other chemotherapies. But scientists are keeping that goal in sight, and discussing with clinical oncologists the steps they need to take to advance toward human clinical trials.
This current work builds on previous efforts by UT Austin's Edward Marcotte and colleagues (Marcotte also participated in the new study). Previously, he identified in yeasts--which have no blood vessels--genes that respond to various cell stresses. These same genes remain in vertebrates, but they help maintain vein and artery growth, as the researchers explain. Graduate student Hye Ji Cha determined that thiabendazole would inhibit those particular genes. Initial tests proved this in frog embryos grown in water and then human blood vessels in petri dishes.
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