Posted on 04/14/2008 5:01:48 PM PDT by blam
Prostate Cancer Can Be Halted With Anti-inflammatory And Statin Used In Tandem, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2008) — Researchers at Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy have shown that administering a combination of the widely used drugs Celebrex (celecoxib, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and Lipitor (atorvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug) stops the transition of early prostate cancer to its more aggressive and potentially fatal stage.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, with more than a quarter-million new cases appearing each year, according to the American Cancer Society. The findings are being presented by Rutgers Professor Xi Zheng at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, April 14th.
In the early stage of the disease, when it is typically diagnosed, prostate cancer cells depend on androgen hormones, such as testosterone, to grow. Treatment at this stage involves either decreasing the production of the hormone or blocking its actions on the cancer cells.
"Anti-androgen therapy slows the prostate cancer but eventually the cancer becomes androgen-independent, the therapy becomes ineffective and the cancer cells become more aggressive," said Xi Zheng, assistant research professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, who conducted the study.
"Treatments available for the later stage cancers are not very good," said Allan Conney, director of Rutgers' Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, another researcher on the project. "Oncologists employ classical chemotherapy drugs which are very toxic and don't work all that well."
Zheng and Conney's research objective was to find a way to indefinitely delay the transition to androgen-independence, prolonging the time during which the cancer would be responsive to effective, low-toxicity, anti-hormone therapy.
Zheng explained that their experiments were first conducted on cell cultures in the laboratory, where the researchers tested the effects of the drugs on the growth of prostate cancer cells from four different cell lines. They then moved on to test the drugs on specially bred mice in which prostate cancer tumors were introduced under the skin. Celebrex alone, Lipitor alone, and the two in combination were tested at the lab bench and on the mice.
"A combination of low doses of Lipitor and Celebrex had a more potent inhibiting effect on the formation of later stage tumors than a higher dose of either agent alone," Zheng reported. "The results from our study indicate that a combination of Lipitor and Celebrex may be an effective strategy for the prevention of prostate cancer progression from the first to the second stage."
Zheng also noted that the team is exploring the underlying molecular mechanisms to understand how Lipitor and Celebrex work on prostate cancer, perhaps identifying an important signaling pathway for tumor cell growth that the drugs inhibit.
Conney pointed out that previous experiments reported in the Sept. 15, 2007, issue of Clinical Cancer Research had demonstrated that the Lipitor-Celebrex combination also inhibited the growth of prostate cancer cells in the later androgen-independent stage.
"So if you can affect the early stage and prevent it from becoming the more severe form, that's a good thing. If you can also inhibit the growth of the more severe form, that's also a good thing," Conney said.
Human clinical trials are being planned at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in New Brunswick.
"If the clinical trials go well, we could have something available in five years, but it would be nice to speed that up," Conney said. "If the trials show that the drug therapy does a good job of preventing the cancer from advancing, we won't need to worry about how to handle the more aggressive later stage cancer.
"This is something we hope is going to save lives," he added.
Adapted from materials provided by Rutgers University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Thanks Dr. Ben Dover.
I see more neuromuscular complications
with this drug class every day.
If they are going to use this drug
I am convinced that anyone on Lipitor
should be on Coenzyme-Q-10
about 200mg twice a day
I’d rather have neuromuscular complications than advanced prostate cancer.
I agree, Prostate Ca is a very real threat
to those of us of advancing years...
Lipitor still drives me nuts
Like what? I've been on it for 3 years or so and haven't any complaints yet.
Achy muscles
Numb hands or feet
Weaker shoulders or pelvis muscles
In my experience, proximal muscle weakness
is often present, and a patient not complaining of it
They just feel “older”
Cox 2 inhibitors effect on cancer. Read about this years ago and research has been going on for what? twenty years? Now it’s news because “I added Lipitor”? But something big is just 5 years away!
Got a bottle of Celebrex at home
It is my favorite de-achyfier
NSAIDS were supposed to prevent colon cancer in people with familial polyposis, as far as I know this did not pan out in clinical trials.
I wouldn’t hold my breath until the effect is seen in clinical trials and then confirmed with further independent testing.
The nagging thought is how many cardiovascular cases the lawyers will pick up. Give old men Celebrex to old men and most of them with die with cardiovascular events. Of course if you don’t give them Celebrex and most of them will die of cardiovacular events but that won’t stop the lawyers.
What does the Coenzyme-Q-10 do?
What are the benefits of CoQ10 for Lipitor users? For users of other statins?
Time to go to bed. I have old men repeating in brain.
I took my first dose of Celebrex two weeks ago, after seeing an Ortho Dr about a painful hip that was waking me up several times every night.
THE NEXT DAY I was able to walk down two steep flights of stairs without pain. Good stuff!
Coenzyme-Q-10? What does that do for you?
Coenzyme Q10 is a vitamin-like substance used in the treatment of a variety of disorders primarily related to suboptimal cellular energy metabolism and oxidative injury. Studies supporting the efficacy of coenzyme Q10 appear most promising for neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and certain encephalomyopathies for which coenzyme Q10 has gained orphan drug status. Results in other areas of research, including treatment of congestive heart failure and diabetes
The widespread use of statin drugs is of special concern because they can lower the endogenous levels of Coenzyme Q10, the naturally-occurring form of ubiquinone in humans. Ubiquinone is widely recognized as an essential component of energy metabolism in the electron-transfer system in mitochondrial membranes. At physiological concentrations it is also recognized as an effective lipid-soluble antioxidant
Considering that Coenzyme Q10 is essential for mitochondrial function and antioxidant activity, and since oxidative mechanisms are important in atherogenesis, it can be assumed that a reduction in CoQ10 level may compromise coronary atherosclerosis despite optimal reduction in cholesterol levels by the use of statin drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies that market statin drugs should consider including the described CoQ10 potential depletion in their drug information materials provided to physicians and pharmacists, and they should encourage patients to consult their physician and pharmacist for appropriate supplementation.
ping
See note #17
See note #17
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