The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7235 p181
8 February 2003

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Cancer Research abstract (more)

Drug harnesses positive effects of thalidomide to destroy cancer cells

A compound related to thalidomide could prove to be an effective anticancer agent because of its ability to induce apoptosis, say researchers.

Dr Blake Marriott, of St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and colleagues tested the direct antitumour effects of a series of second generation thalidomide analogues. They found that one of the selective cytokine inhibitory drugs tested, SelCID-3, was consistently effective at reducing tumour cell viability in a variety of solid tumour cell lines but had no effect on non-neoplastic cells.

SelCID-3 belongs to a class of drugs that have known phosphodiesterase (PDE) type 5 inhibitory activity. However, the researchers say the antitumour activity of SelCID-3 is independent of this activity and does not involve cAMP elevation.

Dr Marriott said: "We were surprised at the ability of this class of drug to kill cancer cells but leave normal cells apparently unaffected."

He added that it was important to emphasise that the new compound, and SelCIDs in general, are totally different to thalidomide. "Also, the most likely benefits will be when tailor-made combinations of these drugs are used, perhaps in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs," he said.

The study is published in Cancer Research (2003;63:593).