Common antifungal drug decreases tumor growth and shows promise
as cancer therapyAugust 21st, 2012 in Cancer This image shows a
frog tadpole with normal blood vessel development (fluorescing,
top) and a frog tadpole with blood vessel development that was
disrupted by the common antifungal medication, thiabendazole
(bottom). New research published by Cha et. al. reveals that
thiabendazole slows tumor growth and shows promise as a
chemotherapy for cancer. Credit: Hye Ji Cha, The University of
Texas at Austin An inexpensive antifungal drug, thiabendazole,
slows tumor growth and shows promise as a chemotherapy for
cancer. Scientists in the College of Natural Sciences at The
University of Texas at Austin made this discovery by exploiting
the evolutionary relatedness of yeast, frogs, mice and humans.
Hye Ji Cha, Edward Marcotte, John Wallingford and colleagues
found that the drug destroys newly established blood vessels,
making it a "vascular disrupting agent." Their research was
published in the journal PLOS Biolo