Antifungal Drug May Kill Cancer Cells

A medication that has been used for about 40 years for the treatment of skin fungus has been shown to be a potential treatment for cancer, according to a team of international researchers.

The agent, called griseofulvin, has been found to suppress the growth of cancer cells in the laboratory. The findings of the study was published in the June 30, 2005, online edition of the Proceedings of the [U.S.] National Academy of Sciences. The study was a collaboration between scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB; USA) and the School of Biosciences and Bioengineering of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

"The drug has remarkably few side effects and has been used for a long time,” said Dr. Leslie Wilson, professor of biochemistry and pharmacology at UCSB. Griseofulvin is administered orally, and has been used for years to treat ringworm and other fungal skin infections.

"We discovered that it has the ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells, in a manner that is similar to much more powerful anticancer drugs such as taxol and vinblastine,” said Dr. Wilson. "Although the anti-cancer activity is weak, it is already approved for human use and could be used along with more powerful anticancer agents as an adjuvant in cancer chemotherapy.”

The authors discovered that the drug suppresses the proliferation of cancer cells by affecting mitosis, or cell division, and mitotic spindle microtubule function. They concluded in their report, "A mild suppression of microtubule dynamics by griseofulvin in tumor cells, combined with the effects of more powerful drugs working through other mechanisms, might provide a therapeutic advantage for treatment of certain tumors.”





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University of California, Santa Barbara
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay