McMaster University researchers discover drug that kills cancer stem cells

McMaster researchers have discovered an anti-psychotic drug kills cancer stem cells without the toxic side-effects of other treatments.

Patients taking thioridazine for Parkinsons Disease and schizophrenia have 10 times fewer instances of cancer after being on the drug for a few years.

Were connecting dots that we werent connecting before, said Dr. Mick Bhatia, principal investigator of the study and scientific director of McMasters Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute.

Were excited we have something interesting, but were always nervous because we want to make sure it helps people. The impact of this will be determined if we can put some patients in remission and certainly thats my romantic goal.

He expects a small number of Hamilton leukemia patients with no other treatment options will have access to the drug through a clinical trial within a year. Hes also hoping to set up a second trial at another Ontario cancer centre.

Its not everyday you find a drug you can move into the clinic, said Bhatia. The only thing we can hope for is that what weve seen in the laboratory, were hoping will work in a patient.

If it works, it could dramatically change cancer treatment. Thioridazine on its own reduced leukemia stem cells by 50 per cent in 24 hours in mice injected with primary human samples, found the study published Thursday in the science journal CELL.

That was quite surprising, said Bhatia. We have certainly not seen any drug weve ever tested have that kind of potency.

One of the reasons it works so well is that patients can be given much higher doses for longer than conventional cancer treatments because it has no effect on normal stem cells.

Finding smart drugs that only kill cancer stem cells is a major research focus of Bhatia and McMaster.

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McMaster University researchers discover drug that kills cancer stem cells