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VIEW ALL NEWSNoscapine may be effective for prostate cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Oral administration of noscapine may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer, according to experimental findings published in the December issue of Anticancer Research.
"Noscapine, a non-toxic alkaloid and common constituent of cough medicine, stabilizes tubulin," Dr. Israel Barken, of The Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation, La Mesa, California, and colleagues write. "It inhibits the growth of several human and murine neoplasms, with no significant toxicity," they note.
The researchers examined the effect of noscapine in 20 immunodeficient mice inoculated with PC3 human prostate cancer cells. One group of 10 animals was treated daily with 300 mg/kg orally administered noscapine diluted in acidified deionized water and the other was given only acidified deionized water. The treatments were continued for 56 days.
The mean total tumor weight at sacrifice was 0.42 g and 0.97 g in the noscapine and control groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Lymphatic metastases occurred significantly less frequently in the treatment group compared with the control group (30% versus 90%, respectively; p < 0.05).
No significant toxicity was observed with noscapine.
"This suggests that orally administered noscapine may be a potential therapeutic agent for safe and efficacious treatment of prostate cancer in humans and a desirable alternative to currently used therapeutic agents that have serious side effects," Dr. Barken and colleagues conclude.
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