Tapeworm drug inhibits colon cancer metastasis
Friday, June 17, 2011 - 15:31
in Health & Medicine
A compound that for about 60 years has been used as a drug against tapeworm infection is also apparently effective against colon cancer metastasis, as studies using mice have now shown. The compound silences a gene that triggers the formation of metastases in colon cancer. Professor Ulrike Stein (Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charité Medical Faculty and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, (MDC)) and her research group made this discovery in collaboration with Professor Robert H. Shoemaker of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, Maryland. Plans are already underway with Professor Peter M. Schlag (Charite Comprehensive Cancer Center) to conduct a clinical trial.