Malaria drug can combat cancer
21 Mar 2011 by Evoluted New Media
An anti-malaria drug used in combination with cancer treatments can enhance its effectiveness by over 50% – more with treatment breaks – say researchers from St George’s, University of London
An anti-malaria drug used in combination with cancer treatments can enhance its effectiveness by over 50% – more with treatment breaks – say researchers from St George’s, University of London
Artesunate reduces the amount of malaria-infected cells in the body that cause disease, and studies show that it has the same effect on cancerous cells and reduces the size of the cancer.
Dr Wai Liu and Professor Angus Dalgleish analysed how four different types of human cancer cells – two representing colon cancer and the others breast and lung cancer – reacted to artesunate when used alone and in combination with anti-cancer drugs. It showed favourable responses with lenalidomide, and suggests that artesunate may stunt the growth of the individual cancerous cells that cause the disease in addition to actively killing infected cells.
“We combined our lead drug lenalidomide with the widely available drug artesunate, and showed that the overall activity of the drugs was boosted to a point that was greater than the sum of the two individual drugs,” said Liu.
Used together, the drugs increased the effectiveness of treatment in all four types of cancer, with the largest effect in lung cancer cells. Used separately, artesunate reduced the number of cancer cells or the size of cancer by 20%, while lenalidomide reduced its size by 10%. By using the two together at the same concentrations, the cancer was reduced by 60%.
Artesunate could more effectively reduce the size of cancer if used in shorter bursts separated by drug-free periods say the researchers. In this treatment pattern, the cancer’s size was reduced where the anti-malaria drug had previously only been preventing cancer growth. The drug-free period was shown to further reduce the size of the cancerous mass.
“Whilst stunting cell growth is a useful effect, destroying the cells to reduce their numbers is the preferred effect,” Dr Liu said. “These two processes are actually linked together, to the extent that if a drug inhibits cell growth it will inadvertently inhibit the ability of the cells to be destroyed. We have shown that by using short burst of artesunate, the cancer cells regain the ability to be destroyed.”
