Fenbendazole is a deworming medication that has been shown to reduce cancer cell growth in laboratory experiments. It can be taken as oral granules or in a liquid suspension.
It works by destabilizing microtubules that form the cytoskeleton and give cells shape. It also blocks cancer cells’ ability to process sugar, which they need for energy.
Anti-tumour activity
Fenbendazole is a benzimidazole antiparasitic drug used against various gastrointestinal parasites and is also known to have anticancer activity. Its anticancer effects involve inhibiting the growth of microtubules, structures that give structure and shape to cells. This is a similar mechanism of action as that of cytotoxic drugs, which target microtubules and are used in a number of cancer treatments.
Studies show that fenbendazole can reduce tumor growth and resistance to chemotherapy. In a recent study, researchers found that it also suppresses the formation of blood vessels, a characteristic of many cancers. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of cancer. They could help develop drugs that are able to penetrate deep-seated tumors and target the cancer stem cell population.
In addition, the team found that fenbendazole reduced glucose uptake in cancer cells. This is because cancer cells need glucose for their energy requirements. The research team also discovered that fenbendazole interfered with cell signaling, and that was associated with its anti-tumor effect.
Developing new drugs can be expensive and time-consuming, but repurposing existing medications can save both money and time. The team of scientists who worked on this study repurposed an antiparasitic drug, fenbendazole, for use against human cancer. The drug has been shown to have a wide range of antiparasitic activity in several species and is widely used in dogs and other domesticated animals. It also has a high safety margin in experimental animals and a low toxicity to normal cells.
Glucose uptake
Several studies in cell cultures and animals have shown that fenbendazole can slow down cancer cell growth. It can also prevent cancer cells from absorbing the sugar they need for energy. This is why researchers decided to test its effect on glucose uptake in human cancer cells. They used two different types of cancer cells, A549 and H460. The scientists found that both cells exhibited decreased glucose uptake when treated with fenbendazole.
The drug works by interfering with the formation of microtubules. These are protein scaffolds that form the cytoskeleton, which is an essential part of any cell. Textbook depictions of cells often show them as floating in amorphous bags of liquid, but the cytoskeleton is what gives them shape and structure. It is composed of microtubules, which are made of a protein called tubulin.
These microtubules are responsible for transporting cargo throughout the cell. They also help in forming structures, such as cell walls. When they are disrupted, the cell loses its structural integrity and dies. The fenbendazole can also cause apoptosis in the cell, which is another way that it destroys cancer cells.
While some people claim that fenbendazole can cure cancer, there is little evidence of this. The Joe Tippens Protocol is based on an anecdotal story about a patient who went into remission after taking the drug. However, the patient was also receiving conventional cancer treatments, which could have been a factor in his remission. To arrive at more reliable conclusions, randomized controlled trials involving large numbers of patients would need to be performed.
Apoptosis
Fenbendazole can trigger apoptosis in human cancer cells. This effect is attributed to its effects on cell cycle progression and glucose metabolism. In addition, it may be partially caused by p53 activation and decreased GPX4 expression (apoptotic signaling pathway).
Moreover, the drug also exhibits antitumor activity in animal models. It inhibits the growth of fibrosarcoma and human lung adenocarcinoma in athymic nu/nu mice. In addition, it decreases RAS-related signaling pathways in KRAS mutant lung cancer cells.
This pharmacological profile is similar to that of other cytotoxic anticancer agents, including the vinca alkaloids and taxanes. In addition, fenbendazole shows high levels of selectivity in vitro. These results suggest that the drug might be a good candidate for cancer therapy.
Aside from its antitumor properties, fenbendazole is also a potent antiparasitic agent against parasites such as pinworms, giardia, roundworms, hookworms, and Taenia solium. It is also able to prevent parasites from attaching to host cells.
Unlike other anthelmintic drugs, fenbendazole is poorly absorbed from the intestinal tract and converts to its active compounds, oxfendazole and fenbendazole sulfone. It also has a broad safety margin in many species and is well tolerated by clinical patients. It is therefore a good candidate for repurposing into a new drug for cancer treatment. The researchers concluded that fenbendazole is a promising chemotherapeutic agent for multiple tumor types.
Toxicity
The drug fenbendazole is used to treat parasitic infections in humans, such as pinworms, giardiasis, roundworms, hookworms, and Taenia solium. It interferes with the activity of microtubules, a structure that separates chromosomes during cell division. These structures form the mitotic spindle and are vital for cell growth and division. A drug that interferes with the formation of these structures blocks important processes and kills cells.
The team tested the effect of fenbendazole on human cancer cells and found that it partially disrupts the microtubule network in these cells. It also stabilises the p53 tumour suppressor gene and inhibits glucose metabolism. It also induces apoptosis in these cells. These findings suggest that fenbendazole is an effective treatment for cancers that exhibit p53 mutations or have a high glucose uptake.
Fenbendazole did not cause significant toxicity in cultured human non-small lung cancer cells at concentrations up to the limit of solubility. It also showed minimal cytotoxicity in the absence of glucose and did not affect the viability of aerobic monolayer cultures. However, a 24-h exposure to fenbendazole in the presence of glucose significantly decreased the number of colonies formed and yield-corrected surviving fractions.
Researchers also tested fenbendazole on mice with localised tumors and found that it reduced the growth of these tumours. The team fed the mice fenbendazole orally every second day for 12 days. They also irradiated the mice with X-rays to examine their lungs. They found that the fenbendazole-treated mice had fewer tumours in their lungs than the control mice.fenbendazole for humans cancer