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Nitroglycerin may be an effective treatment for some cancers
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists at Queen's University have identified a new mechanism that could explain why the immune system sometimes fails to fight cancer. The new findings shed light on a possible reason for cancer cells' resilience, and suggest that nitroglycerin, a relatively safe and inexpensive drug used for more than a century to treat angina, could be an effective treatment for some cancers.
"This discovery could lead to new approaches to treating patients with certain forms of cancer," said Charles Graham, a professor in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. The scientists were studying the effects of hypoxia, or low oxygen levels in tissues, on the ability of cancer cells to evade detection and subsequent destruction by the body's immune system.
They found that hypoxia in cancer cells leads to overproduction of a key enzyme called ADAM10, which makes the cell resistant to the immune system. However, when the scientists treated the cancer cells with a nitrogen oxide-mimicking substance (nitroglycerin), they noticed that the hypoxia condition was significantly reduced and the cancer cells lost their resistance to immune attack. The results of the study showed that nitroglycerin could potentially be used to boost the body’s natural immune response to cancer.
This discovery builds on the team's previous research findings in 2009 regarding the role of nitric oxide in suppressing tumor growth in prostate cancer. At that time, the scientists conducted the first-ever clinical trial using low-dose nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer.
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