감기약성분 노스카핀 전립선암치료 효과

감기약성분 노스카핀 전립선암치료 효과

쥐 56일간 주입..종양크기 0.42g(대조군0.97g)

감기약의 주요 성분으로 쓰이는 노스카핀(noscapine)이 진행성 전립선암 치료에 상당한 효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 미국 전립선연구교육재단의 이스라엘 바켄 박사는 인간의 전립선암세포를 주입한 쥐 20마리 중 10마리에만 노스카핀을 물에 희석시켜 56일간 경구투여한 결과 자라난 전립선 종양이 노스카핀 그룹은 0.42g으로 대조군의 0.97g에 비해 현저히 작은 것으로 나타났다고 밝혔다. 전립선암이 확산될 가능성도 노스카핀 그룹이 30%로 대조군의 90%에 비해 낮았다.아울러 장기간 복용에도 이렇다 할 독성 부작용은 나타나지 않았다.

바켄 박사는 현재 사용되고 있는 전립선암 치료물질들은 심각한 부작용이 있는 만큼 노스카핀은 안전하고 효과적인 대체치료제가 될 수 있을 것이라고 말했다. 노스카핀은 유방암, 난소암, 대장암, 폐암, 뇌종양, 임파선암, 림프구성백혈병, 흑색종 등의 치료에 효과가 있는 것으로 알려져 있으나 전립선암에도 효과가 있다는 연구결과가 나오기는 이번이 처음이다. <원문기사> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Noscapine, a natural substance found in cough medicine, may prove useful in treating advanced prostate cancer, according to studies in mice. Researchers found that noscapine -- a non-addictive derivative of opium -- reduced tumor growth in mice by 60 percent and limited the spread of tumors by 65 percent without causing harmful side effects. Dr. Israel Barken, of The Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation, La Mesa, California, and colleagues report their finding in the journal Anticancer Research. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, one man in six will get prostate cancer during his lifetime. Noscapine has previously been studied as a treatment for breast, ovarian, colon, lung and brain cancer and for various lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and melanoma. The current study, however, is the first to demonstrate its potential as a treatment for prostate cancer. The research team examined the effect of noscapine in 20 mice inoculated with human prostate cancer cells. One group of 10 animals was treated daily with orally administered noscapine diluted in water and the other group was given plain water (control). The treatments were continued for 56 days. When the animals were sacrificed, researchers found that the tumors from the noscapine-fed animals weighed significantly less than the tumors from the animals fed plain water (0.42 grams versus 0.97 grams). Prostate cancer was also led apt to spread in the noscapine group compared with the control group (30 percent versus 90 percent. No significant toxicity was observed with noscapine. These findings, the researchers say, suggest that noscapine "may be a potential therapeutic agent for safe and efficacious treatment of prostate cancer in humans and a desirable alternative to currently used therapeutic agents that have serious side effects." SOURCE: Anticancer Research, December 2008.

데일리엠디 김종필기자 (jp1122@nate.com)

기사 입력시간 : 2009-01-04 오후 6:08:58