Johns Hopkins Medicine reports the most commonly used oral drug to treat nail fungus, itraconazole, may keep prostate cancer from worsening and delay the need for chemotherapy in men with advanced prostate cancer. This is great news for the nearly 8,500 Michigan men diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.
Findings from a clinical study led by Johns Hopkins experts will be presented Saturday, June 4, at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
Itraconazole is used currently to treat fungal infections in nails and other organs. Serious side effects can include heart failure, and experts from Johns Hopkins caution that the drug needs further study before it can be considered for prostate cancer treatment.
Researchers found that itraconazole appears to block tumor blood vessel growth. It also disrupts a key cancer-initiating biological pathway called Hedgehog. Laboratory testing conducted by Johns Hopkins scientist, Jun Liu, Ph.D., has shown that human prostate tumors implanted in mice shrink when treated with itraconazole.
Results of the study showed that the use of higher doses of the drug proved to be much more effective than lower doses – nearly a third of men taking the high dose had PSA reductions of 30 percent or more. Metastatic prostate cancer patients receiving no treatment typically would worsen in eight to twelve weeks.
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