Common Cold Medicine Can Stop The Spread Of Cancer

Researchers from Hokkaido University have found that a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, which is mainly used for treating colds, can stop the spread of bladder cancers and lower down their chemo-resistance in mice. The discovery has raised hopes of a future cure for advanced stages of bladder cancers.

As reported by Eurekalert, bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in men around that world. There are about 20,000 people in Japan who are diagnosed with the disease every year, and about 8,000 of whom, mostly men, die from it. Bladder cancer can be classified into two: non-muscle-invasive cancers, which have a five-year survival rate of 90 percent, and muscle-invasive cancers, which have a poor prognosis. Patients suffering from the latter are usually treated with anticancer drugs such as cisplatin; however, they tend to become chemo resistant, causing the cancer to spread to other organs like the lungs, liver, as well as the bone.

In the new study, human bladder cancer cells labeled with luciferase were injected into mice, which created a xenograft bladder cancer model. The primary bladder xenograft slowly grew and after 45 days, the tumors were discovered to have metastasized to other organs like the lungs, liver, and bone. Using a microarray analysis, including over 200,000 genes for the metastatic tumors, the research team found a three- to a 25-time increase of the metabolic enzyme aldo-keto reductase 1C1 (AKR1C1).

They also found elevated levels of AKR1C1 in metastatic tumors which were removed from 25 cancer patients, proving that what was discovered in the mice also happens in the human body. The research team concluded that along with anticancer drugs, an inflammatory substance produced around the tumor, such as interleukin-1β, increased the enzyme levels, reported Medical Xpress.

The researchers also found for the first time that AKR1C1 amplifies tumor-promoting activities and determined that the enzyme blocks the effectiveness of cisplatin and other anticancer drugs. However, the researchers made a breakthrough discovery that introducing flufenamic acid, an inhibitory factor for AKR1C1, into the bladder with cancerous cells subdued those cells' invasive activities and restored the effectiveness of anticancer drugs. Flufenamic acid is also known as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly used for treating common colds.

Furthermore, Independent reported that the team's discovery is expected to spur clinical tests aimed at improving the prognosis for bladder cancer patients. "This latest research could pave the way for medical institutions to use flufenamic acid - a much cheaper cold drug - which has unexpectedly been proven to be effective at fighting cancers," said Dr. Shinya Tanaka of the research group.