Antibiotic Slow Growth Of Blader And Breast Cancer Cells
Posted Jan 21 2011 6:53pm
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that nitroxoline, an antibiotic commonly used around the world to treat urinary tract infections, can slow or stop the growth of human breast and bladder cancer cells by blocking the formation of new blood vessels. The results, appearing in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest that nitroxoline shows promise as a potential therapeutic agent.
“Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis, so inhibiting angiogenesis is a promising strategy for developing new anticancer drugs,” says Jun O. Liu, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins.
The research team tested more than 177,000 chemical compounds and drugs for their ability to block the activity of a protein—called MetAP2—implicated in the formation of new blood vessels. Previous research had shown that inhibiting MetAP2 leads to a cascade of molecular events that ultimately prevents vessel-forming cells from growing. The team first tested 175,000 chemicals for their ability to block MetAP2 activity. Of the 294 chemicals found to reduce MetAP2 activity by at least half, nitroxoline stood out in its ability to inhibit MetAP2 by more than 99 percent at low and safe concentration. “It was one of the most potent hits we identified from this chemical compound library,” says Liu.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that nitroxoline, an antibiotic commonly used around the world to treat urinary tract infections, can slow or stop the growth of human breast and bladder cancer cells by blocking the formation of new blood vessels. The results, appearing in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest that nitroxoline shows promise as a potential therapeutic agent.
“Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, plays an important role in tumor growth and metastasis, so inhibiting angiogenesis is a promising strategy for developing new anticancer drugs,” says Jun O. Liu, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins.
The research team tested more than 177,000 chemical compounds and drugs for their ability to block the activity of a protein—called MetAP2—implicated in the formation of new blood vessels. Previous research had shown that inhibiting MetAP2 leads to a cascade of molecular events that ultimately prevents vessel-forming cells from growing. The team first tested 175,000 chemicals for their ability to block MetAP2 activity. Of the 294 chemicals found to reduce MetAP2 activity by at least half, nitroxoline stood out in its ability to inhibit MetAP2 by more than 99 percent at low and safe concentration. “It was one of the most potent hits we identified from this chemical compound library,” says Liu.