In the fight against colon cancer, one of the world’s leading cancer killers, researchers and scientists are at work each and every day all over the world trying to create new drugs that will benefit those afflicted. However a team from the Tel Aviv University has discovered that by tweaking the formula of an old and well established antibiotic they just may have come up with something rather special.

Dr. Rina Rosin-Arbesfeld is the preclinical studies leader and is excited about the discovery she and her team made. They found that the previously commonly used antibiotic, which had been phased out of use to make way for newer formulations, was able to suppress the growth of colon cancer polyps in mice, in its standard formulation they found that its administration reduced the polyp size in 80% of the mice, who then lived on average 30% longer than their untreated counterparts.

Dr Rosin – Arbesfeld believes that the antibiotic acts on the colon cancer in a genetic fashion, as it has been established it does in other conditions. Knowing that these old generation antibiotics were effective in treating cystic fibrosis, as they repaired damaged DNA, she ordered what they might do against colon cancer, as the genetic mutations in colon cancer resemble those found in CF patients. She and her team concluded that the out of circulation antibiotic did indeed repair some of the faulty genes in colon cancer infected mice, and as the drug is no longer in common use it could be used in conjunction with newer antibiotics without affecting their effectiveness.

Now the Dr and her team are making a few tweaks to the old formulation to create what is essentially a new drug, which she believes they can achieve quickly. As the original drug is already on the market, she also anticipates that regulatory bodied would accept this new use rapidly as well.

In fact the University’s commercial transfer company, Ramot has already applied for a patent for the new usage of the drug and although Dr Rosin – Arbesfeld originally envisioned using her discovery as a preventative treatment for colon cancer further tests revealed that it was effective for treating full blown colon cancer as well, opening up a whole new set of possibilities for its use in the fight against colon cancer. Says the doctor proudly, “in directing my work towards the treatment of cancer, I can help save lives.”