Fenben lab fenbendazol is an animal anthelmintic used to control roundworms (notably Ascaris, hookworm and Trichuris). It has a long track record of safety in humans, especially in those who take it for many years at high doses. It also has a good track record as an antiparasitic in veterinary medicine.
Recently, it has been found that fenbendazole exerts potent antitumor activity in human cancer cells. It is a moderate microtubule destabilizing agent and induces cell death through multiple pathways. It is thought to act by inhibiting the cyclin B1/CDK1 cycle and by suppressing the RAS-related signaling pathway.
In the present study, we examined the effects of fenbendazole on EMT6 mammary carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Intensive treatment of EMT6 cell cultures with fenbendazole for 2-h significantly decreased viability even in the presence of severe hypoxia. The toxicity of fenbendazole was significantly enhanced when it was combined with either radiation or the taxanes. Moreover, in vivo experiments using the three injection regimen of fenbendazole plus radiotherapy on mice with localized tumors irradiated to four-fold volume showed no increase in time to local invasion or number of lung metastases at necropsy (Table 1).
These results suggest that fenbendazole is not only a moderate microtubule destabilizing drug that causes cellular death through multiple mechanisms, but it also acts as an effective antitumor agent by enhancing the cytotoxic effect of radiation and the taxanes. It may thus represent a valuable tool for developing new drugs that can enhance the efficacy of current chemotherapy agents.fenben lab fenbendazol