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Statin plus cancer drug deliver combo punch to brain cancer cells

er cells," says Charles Eberhart, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, ophthalmology and oncology. "But the new work shows the hedgehog blockade may halt another powerful cell-survival signal, and lovastatin could provide the added boost necessary to kill more cancer cells."

Specifically, Eberhart found links between the expression of key hedgehog-related genes in medulloblastoma cells and another cell signal already tied to cancer, Bcl-2. Eberhart and his team believed that combination of a hedgehog blockade and a pro-apoptosis drug like lovastatin would kill more cancer cells.

"Our experiments suggest that hedgehog's action is woven together with Bcl-2, best known for its role in causing B-cell lymphomas," he says. "Cancer cells thwart suicide by overproducing Bcl-2, assuring them a long life."

When the Hopkins researchers noticed that Bcl-2 and hedgehog expression increased in tandem in medulloblastoma cells, they tried adding hedgehog-blocking cyclopamine to the cells and found that Bcl-2 production dwindled and tumor cells died off.

Lead author and pathology fellow Eli E. Bar, Ph.D., said he was "surprised by the degree to which the drug combination was so effective."

According to Eberhart, only half of children with medulloblastoma survive. "And those that do survive can suffer debilitating side effects caused by current toxic therapies."


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Source:Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions


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