Two drugs used to treat osteoporosis and breast cancer can stop cervical cancer. Fulvestrant (Faslodex), used to treat breast cancer, and raloxifene (Evista), used to treat osteoporosis, destroyed cervical cancer in 11 out of 13 cases, results deemed “amazing” by researchers.
Cervical cancer strikes half a million women worldwide each year and only 50 percent will survive. The HPV vaccine, which is used to protect women against the virus that is the major cause of cervical cancer, has side effects and won’t prevent all cases.
The new study was done in mice, but since the drugs have already been proven safe in humans, if the combo proves successful in women, they could be in widespread use to prevent cervical cancer in only five years—much less time than newly developed drugs.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that the growth of cervical cancer is spurred by estrogen, and the two drugs cut the tumors’ estrogen supply. Mice were first treated with fulvestrant. After treating the mice for one month, 11 of the 13 mice, which were genetically engineered to develop cervical cancer, showed no signs of the disease. The cancerous tumors remained in untreated mice. “It was amazing to see that not only was the cancer gone but all the pre-cancerous lesions that give rise to cancer were also gone,” said researcher Paul Lambert.
Estrogen fuels cervical cancer, says Lambert, and once the fuel disappears, the cancer regresses.
Raloxifene was then tested, and researchers got the same results. In addition, since the drugs eliminated precancerous growths, they could possibly prevent the disease from ever developing.
Lambert is now testing to see if the drugs are as effective in human cells as they are in mice. “We can't be sure how the science will translate from animals to humans but we have faith in our mouse model,” he said. “There are many similarities in how cervical cancer develops and manifests itself in women and in mice.”
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