Cholesterol

... Joplin Independent:Common drugs may lead to greater cures Today is: Sun, Apr 29, 2007 HomeBusinessCalendar of EventsClassifiedsCommunityEditorialEducationEntertainmentFeaturesGlobalGovernmentHealthHome and GardenHumorKidz KornerMiscellaneousLetters to the EditorOp-EdPeoplePhoto GallerySound BitesSportsTravel & Leisure About UsContact UsRegisterLoginForumLinksSubmit News Site Design by: Home-Common drugs may lead to greater cures Common drugs may lead to greater curesby: jhu-psUpdated: 2007-04-29 12:58:22-05Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered to their surprise that two drugs commonly used for treatment might be beneficial in treating other more serious disorders.

These researchers discovered that a drug commonly used to treat toenail fungus can also block angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels commonly seen in cancers.

The drug, itraconazole, already is FDA approved for human use, which may fast-track its availability as an antiangiogenesis drug.

In mice induced to have excess blood vessel growth, treatment with itraconazole reduced blood vessel growth by 67 percent compared to placebo.

"We were surprised, to say the least, that itraconazole popped up as a potential blocker of angiogenesis," says Jun O.

Liu, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology.

"We couldn't have predicted that an antifungal drug would have such a role." In their search for antiangiogenesis drugs, the researchers worked with cells from human umbi...

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