Nitroglycerin can be effective in the treatment of certain cancers
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists from the Royal University have identified a new mechanism that could explain why the immune system is sometimes unable to fight cancer. The new data shed light on the possible cause of resistance of cancer cells, and indicate that nitroglycerin, a relatively safe and inexpensive drug that has been used for more than a century to treat angina pectoris, can be an effective remedy for some types of cancer.
"This discovery can lead to the development of new approaches in the treatment of patients with certain forms of cancer," said Charles Graham, professor of the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. Scientists have studied the effect of hypoxia, or a low oxygen content in tissues, on the ability of cancer cells to avoid detection and subsequent destruction by the body's immune system.
They found that hypoxia in a cancerous cell leads to overproduction of the key enzyme ADAM10, which makes the cell immune to the effects of the immune system. However, when scientists treated cancer cells with a nitrogen oxide mimetic (nitroglycerin), they noticed that the state of hypoxia was significantly reduced and cancer cells lost their resistance to attacking the immune system. The results of the study showed that nitroglycerin can potentially be used to enhance the body's natural immune response to cancer.
This discovery is based on the findings of previous research team of scientists in 2009 on the role of nitric oxide in suppressing tumor growth in prostate cancer. Then the scientists conducted the first-ever clinical study using low doses of nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer.
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