(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Several drugs now being used to treat heart failure and atrial arrhythmia also show promise as DNA disruptors in cancer cells and could be readily repurposed as anticancer agents, according to a new study by Yale researchers.
Cardiac glycosides, which are bioactive natural products found in certain plants and insects, aid in cardiac treatment because they cause the heart to contract and increase cardiac output. They are used in prescription medications such as Digitoxin and Strophanthin.
Now researchers at Yale have also discovered that cardiac glycosides block the repair of DNA in tumor cells. Because tumor cells are rapidly dividing, their DNA is more susceptible to damage, and inhibition of DNA repair is a promising strategy to selectively kill these cells. Several other researchers have noted that cardiac glycosides possess anticancer properties, but the basis for these effects was not well known. The Yale scientists showed that cardiac glycosides inhibit two key pathways that are involved in the repair of DNA.
“We performed a high-content drug screen with the Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, which identified some interesting cardiac drugs that affect DNA repair,” said Ranjit Bindra, assistant professor of therapeutic radiology and of pathology at the Yale School of Medicine. “This has many therapeutic implications for new cancer drugs.”
Bindra and Yale professor of chemistry Seth Herzon are the principal investigators of the study, which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Herzon and Bindra also are members of the Yale Cancer Center.