It's hard to believe the cancer-fighting properties of 'old' drugs

Vancomycin - an antibiotic used since the 50s of the last century can be an enhancement measure available, low cost, saving lives of many cancer patients.

In a new study by the University of Pennsylvania (USA), doctors gave patients vancomycin after they received radiation therapy. At that time, this different kind of old birth suddenly had an unexpected interaction with the intestinal microflora, stimulating the immune system of patients "rising" strong enough to destroy the remaining radiation. tumors and even cancer cells are wandering in remote locations in the body.

Cancer cells - (photo: SHUTTERSTOCK).

Immunotherapy in cancer treatment is a new trend in recent years and has been studied by scientists around the world. However, creating an immunotherapy combined with radiation therapy, based on an available drug, will save a lot of research costs. Moreover, after the successful clinical trials mentioned above, the method can be applied in the near future.

According to Associate Professor - Dr. Andrea Facciabene, Perelmann School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, this is a sustainable method because of the impact on the deep mechanism that controls the immune system: intestinal bacteria; Help train the body to fight the disease on its own instead of simply treating it. The drug specifically improves the function of dendritic cells, the type of messenger cells that help T cells ( T cells , or T lymphocytes , are a type of lymphocytes - a subclass of white blood cells). - plays a central role in cellular-mediated immunity) of the immune system knowing exactly what to attack. The method has been shown to work with many different types of cancer.

Vancomycin is also made up of large molecules, so it will be "trapped" in the patient's intestines but will not circulate to the rest of the body like other antibiotics, thus minimizing the side effects of the type. This drug onto other organs.

After the paper, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the authors say they are pushing to begin the trial phase of this combination of vancomycin radiotherapy directly at clinics.