Anti-Parasitic "Ivermectin" for Tumor (NF and Glioma) Treatment?

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic antibiotic developed by Merck and Kitasato Institute in Japan during early 1980s to kill parasites (worms/nematodes) in our intestine. The oral dose of this drug is 200 micro g/kg (body weight). Each tablet of 3 mg costs around $7.50 on both US and Japanese markets. A single dose (or two after two weeks) is usually sufficient to eradicate the worms completely.

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fda/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?id=6975&type=display

Interestingly, however, in 2004 a Russian group in Moscow found that Ivermectin can suppress the growth of cancer (melanoma and leukemia) xenografts in mice. The daily dose of this drug (i.p.) in this test is 3-4 mg/kg for the complete suppression, mainly because drug metabolism in mice or rats is far faster than that in domestic animals such as cow or human beings. Its anti-cancer potency is very similar to that of the most potent anti-PAK1/cancer drug FK228.

The antibiotic ring peptide FK228 is effective for more than 70% of all human cancers (including pancreatic cancer and glioma) and NF (neurofibromatosis) whose growth depends on the oncogenic kinase PAK1. However, unlike Ivermectin, FK228 is still in clinical trials (phase 2) for CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) and other cancers, and is not available on the market.

More excitingly, in 2007 a Turkish group at Ankara University discovered that Ivermectin only at 200 micro g/kg (s.c.) eradicates cutaneous papilloma (benign skin tumor) from 8 cows out of 9 treated cows during 3 months. This single dose is basically the same as that for the treatment of parasitic worms in human beings.

Is Ivermection effective for the treatment of PAK1-dependent brain tumors such as NF and glioma? We have no way to test its therapeutics efficacy on NF in mice, simply because there is no NF research fund available for us to conduct such an in vivo test.

I believe the simplest (and most inexpensive) approach to determine its effect on NF tumors in vivo would be a home trial by each NF patient, which costs only $20-30 (just once with 3-4 tablets of Ivermectin for bodyweight 50-80 kg).

However, there is a potential research grant from the children's glioma foundation in Florida who might support our study testing the effect of Ivermectin and Bio 30 on glioma xenograft in mice.

http://www.prayersfrommaria.org/grants.html

For so far no effective FDA-approved therapeutic for this deadly brain cancer is available on the market.

In cell culture at least, we have recently obtained an encouraging outcome indicating that both Bio 30 and Ivermectin kill quite effectively both human (grade 4) glioma and NF tumor cells. Furthermore, both Bio 30 and Ivermectin can pass through BBB (blood brain barrier) so that they could effectively reach brain tumors such as NF and gliomas even by systemic (oral) administration.


Ivermectin is an anti-PAK1 drug

Finally in an early 2009 we got an evidence that Ivermectin inactivates PAK1 in ovarian cancer cells and inhibits their growth at the same concentrations, suggesting strongly that this old antibiotic would be useful for the treatment of PAK1-dependent cancers and NF tumors, as Bio 30 and FK228.