Jul 28, 2008 12:04 pm US/Pacific
Viagra May Help Treat Brain Tumors?
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The study performed on rats showed that the drugs allowed more chemotherapy treatment to reach brain tumors.
AP
In a study using laboratory animals, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said today that drugs used for erectile dysfunction allowed more chemotherapy treatment to reach brain tumors.
Viagra and Levitra block an enzyme that interrupts a series of biochemical events that cause decreased blood flow leading to erectile
dysfunction, Sandy Van, a spokeswoman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said in a statement.
The study, performed on rats, found that the drugs also opened blood
vessels to tumors but not normal brain tissue.
In addition, the drugs blocked the enzyme that acts as a barrier for anti-tumor drugs to treat brain tumors.
Researchers found that Levitra was a more effective treatment than
Viagra to allow greater transport to tumor tissues, Van said.
Levitra combined with chemotherapy drugs was the most effective treatment of the ones used in the study, she said.
The researchers exposed the animals to doses of Viagra and Levitra
comparable to the dose range approved for erectile dysfunction in humans, Van said. No side effects were detected in the animals, she said.
The experiments were conducted at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurological Institute and published in the medical journal "Brain Research."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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