Erectile Dysfunction Drugs could help Treat Oesophageal Cancer, Study Finds

Erectile dysfunction drugs could assist treat oesophageal cancer, study finds

22 June 2022

An ingredient in impotence medication might assist treat oesophageal cancer, a research study has found.

Southampton scientists discovered the PDE5 inhibitors in the medication helped permeate the barrier of cells around tumours, enabling chemotherapy drugs to reach cancer cells.

One in 10 patients currently endures the disease, which is found anywhere in the craw, for 10 years or more.

The research study was funded by Cancer Research UK. The next stage is a medical trial.

Prof Tim Underwood, lead author of the research study, said the discovery could improve these survival rates.

He said a cell called the cancer-associated fibroblast, responsible for injury healing, could be targeted with the inhibitors.

“It’s been utilized throughout the world in millions of dosages,” he explained. “It’s safe, and we used it to cancer.”

He added it was to the researchers “awe and surprise and pleasure” that the drug had an impact.

“We require to put this into a medical trial where we try the drug type along with chemotherapy to see if it makes the chemotherapy more effective,” he stated.

“The initial work recommends it ought to do, and if it does and if it’s safe, and it enhances outcomes of chemotherapy, then it could be truly substantial for the patients I take care of.”

The study was brought out using tumours from eight cancer patients, with more tests done on mice.

Chemotherapy just helps 20% of oesophageal cancer patients in a significant way, he stated.

“If this drug mix even enhances it by a little amount, we’re really going to help a a great deal of people every year to respond much better and live longer.”

Researchers at Southampton University Hospitals say that the normal results of erectile dysfunction condition drugs require extra stimulation, so would not impact cancer patients in the exact same way.

Prof Underwood said the main would be “a little bit of headache, a little flushing”.

Terry Daly, from Aldershot, Hampshire, is among the 9,500 individuals identified with oesophageal cancer in the UK every year.

It frequently goes undetected in the early stages, with Mr Daly finding it was difficult to swallow his food and he ended up regurgitating it.

He is shortly to go through another round of chemotherapy, and said if he had the alternative to take the new treatment he would have “taken it with both hands”.

“The research study that is being done is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“It is just unbelievable that there are individuals out there happy to invest their lives just looking for a remedy, so that individuals can proceed with their daily lives and not need to go through all this stuff.

“You can’t thank these individuals enough for what they’re doing.”

The five-year study has actually been funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council.

A clinical trial is anticipated within the next 18 months and if successful, it is hoped new treatments based on this research study might be utilized within 10 years.

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Related web links

Cancer Research UK

University Hospital Southampton

Institute of Developmental Sciences – University of Southampton

What is oesophageal cancer? – NHS

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