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Erectile Dysfunction Drugs might help Treat Oesophageal Cancer, Study Finds

Erectile dysfunction drugs might help treat oesophageal cancer, study discovers

22 June 2022

An active ingredient in impotence medication might help treat oesophageal cancer, a study has discovered.

Southampton scientists discovered the PDE5 inhibitors in the medication assisted permeate the barrier of cells around tumours, making it possible for to reach cancer cells.

One in 10 clients currently makes it through the disease, which is discovered throughout the gullet, for 10 years or more.

The study was funded by Cancer Research UK. The next phase is a clinical trial.

Prof Tim Underwood, lead author of the research study, stated the discovery might enhance these survival rates.

He stated a cell known as the cancer-associated fibroblast, accountable for wound recovery, might be targeted with the inhibitors.

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

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

“We need to put this into a clinical trial where we try the drug type together with chemotherapy to see if it makes the chemotherapy more reliable,” he stated.

“The initial work suggests it should do, and if it does and if it’s safe, and it enhances results of chemotherapy, then it might be really substantial for the clients I care for.”

The study was carried out utilizing tumours from 8 cancer patients, with further tests done on mice.

Chemotherapy only helps 20% of oesophageal cancer clients in a substantial way, he said.

“If this drug combination even improves it by a percentage, we’re really going to help a a great deal of individuals every year to respond much better and live longer.”

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

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

Terry Daly, from Aldershot, Hampshire, is one of the 9,500 people diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in the UK every year.

It frequently goes unnoticed in the early phases, with Mr Daly discovering it was difficult to swallow his food and he ended up regurgitating it.

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

“The research study that is being done is definitely great,” he said.

“It is simply incredible that there are people out there willing to spend their lives just searching for a treatment, so that people can proceed with their everyday lives and not have to go through all this stuff.

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

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

A clinical trial is expected within the next 18 months and if successful, it is hoped new treatments based on this research 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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