Heart Drug May Be a Cancer Fighter
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7 — Digoxin, a drug used for many years to treat irregular heart rhythms and heart failure, may also be a cancer-fighting agent, researchers report.
Cancer cells need to create new blood vessels to survive. But many of these cells are oxygen-deprived and need to switch on genes that produce a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1), which help cells survive in low-oxygen conditions.
Digoxin reduces HIF-1, causing cancer cells to die, the scientists from Johns Hopkins University found.