Researchers have found that pyrvinium, a treatment usually given for an intestinal infection called pinworm disease, can prevent stomach cancer by eliminating precancerous lesions.
- Researchers have found that pyrvinium can eliminate precancerous lesions in stomach cancer.
- Usually, this treatment is prescribed for pinworm infection, an intestinal infection.
- There were 4,272 deaths from stomach cancer in France in 2018.
Pyrviniumthis is the name of a medicine against pinworm, an intestinal infection. It has been used for over 70 years for this disease. However, according to a new study published in the journal Gastroenterology, it could have another therapeutic interest. Indeed, it could become a preventive treatment against stomach cancer for people at risk according to a team from the research center Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Center (UNITED STATES).
Stomach cancer: pyrvinium could help prevent the disease
“Our study suggests that pyrvinium may lead to the recovery of metaplastic and/or dysplastic mucosa to normal by targeting a population of stem cells, noted Eunyoung Choi, author of this study, in a communicated. Thus, pyrvinium is a unique (potential treatment) to prevent the occurrence of stomach cancer in patients with a high-risk precancerous condition.“
Metaplasia and dysplasia are precancerous conditions. The first characterizes the abnormalities of the cells of the stomach mucosa while the second concerns the cellular renewal of the gastric mucosa. During their experiments, the researchers were able to show that pyrvinium could cause cell death in these precancerous lesions. Thus, the treatment would be likely to act upstream to prevent the development of stomach cancer in people at risk.
Additionally, they also observed that pyrvinium inhibited the progression from metaplasia to dysplasia and promoted the regeneration of normal gastric mucosa by contributing to an anti-inflammatory microenvironment.
Pyrvinium: a drug known for 70 years without serious side effects
Pyrvinium is a drug that has been used for decades and is well known to the medical world. “Given the benefits of Pyrvinium, notably the absence side effects serious identified, the next step will be to do a clinical study in which the drug could (reverse the evolution of) metaplastic gastric mucosa in patients with high-risk precancer“, concludes Eunyoung Choi.
This is not the first time that the anti-cancer effects of pinworm treatment have been studied. Of previous preclinical work had already observed that this drug could slow down the growth of certain tumors, such as those of colon. However, in this new study, scientists managed to precisely identify the specific dysplastic stem cells targeted by Pyrvinium.
Eliminating precancerous lesions, restoring the gastric mucosa… these advances could be important, because stomach cancer is one of those with a “poor prognosis”. This means that the 5-year survival rate remains lower, despite advances in research.
In France, the estimated number of new cases of stomach cancer was 6,557 in 2018, including 4,264 in men and 2,293 in women, according to Public Health France. The same year, there were 4,272 deaths linked to this disease.
