Cancer Research UK
Thursday 12 November 2009
Cervical cancer could be eliminated through the use of two drugs normally used to treat breast cancer and osteoporosis, a US study suggests.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health carried out tests on mice and found that the drugs, fulvestrant and raloxifene, cleared precancerous cells from the cervix and vagina as well as averting the onset of cancer in mice with precancerous lesions.
Senior author Paul Lambert said the team have already started to investigate whether the success of the drugs in treating cervical cancer translates to human cells as well as mice.
Lab studies will take up to two years to complete but could soon be followed by phase two or three clinical trials, as the drugs have already been approved for clinical use.
The study, which appears in the November 9th edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sought to find out why nearly all women with cervical cancer test positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, yet not all women infected with HPV get cervical cancer.
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