New pain meds treat spread of colon
cancer in mice
Last Updated: 2002-08-15 17:04:04 -0400
(Reuters Health) By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - COX-2 inhibitors, a newer class of painkillers designed to circumvent side effects associated with older drugs, may also treat colon cancer that has spread to the liver, according to new study findings.
Nobuya Yamada of the Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan and colleagues found that giving COX-2 to mice with colon cancer that had spread to their livers shrank the animals' liver tumors.
In addition, when they added the COX-2 inhibitor to a Petri dish containing a strain of colon cancer cells, the researchers found that the treatment prevented the multiplication and spread of the malignant cells.
Based on these results, Yamada told Reuters Health that he and his colleagues suspect that COX-2 inhibitors may help prevent the recurrence of cancer that has spread to the liver.
"We recommend patients with colon cancer to take COX-2 inhibitors after surgical (removal of part of the) colon," Yamada said.
COX-2 inhibitors are designed to specifically suppress the activity of the COX-2 enzyme, while inducing fewer side effects than older pain medications such as aspirin, which block both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. Both enzymes produce molecules called prostaglandins that are often elevated in cancer.
Previous research has found that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), a class of pain medications that block prostaglandin production, may cut the risk of colon cancer by up to one half. COX-2 inhibitors are one type of NSAID, as is aspirin.
In addition, Yamada noted that other COX-2 inhibitors have been shown to prevent the spread of colon cancer. This paper demonstrates this effect with a particular COX-2 inhibitor, known as JTE-522.
During the study, reported in the recent issue of the International Journal of Cancer, the investigators tested the effect of JTE-522 on colon cancer cells in a Petri dish, which were extracted from a particular strain of colon cancer that is likely to spread to other organs. Yamada and colleagues also administered the drug five times a week for 4 weeks to mice that had been injected with colon cancer cells, which had then spread to their livers.
At the end of the experiments, the authors found that JTE-522 helped reduce the amount of colon cancer present in the animals' livers, and also prevented the multiplication and spread of the malignant cells within the Petri dish.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Yamada said that this particular COX-2 inhibitor has also been shown to prevent the spread of colon cancer to the lungs. As such, "we expect JTE-522 to prevent the spread of colon cancer to other organs," Yamada noted.
Previous reports have also found that JTE-522 can prevent other cancers from spreading throughout the body, such as gastric cancer, and head and neck cancers. Given these findings, "we expect JTE-522 to prevent the spread of other cancers," the researcher added.
SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer 2002;100:515-519.