The Testing Evidence for Using Fenbendazole for Treating Colon Cancer

ByPrimary Researcher

Executive Summary

  • This article covers the evidence I could find for Fenbendazole as a treatment for Colon Cancer.

Article Summary

Studies demonstrate that Fenbendazole is effective against cancer, we then cover how Fenbendazole works against cancer by explaining the mechanisms of action, and then the impacts of Fenbendazole on cancer.

Introduction

This article provides an overview covering the evidence for Fenbendazole and related drugs versus Colon Cancer.

Many articles on this website cover the evidence for the benefits of Fenbendazole for cancer. But the question of which specific cancers Fenbendazole has been proven effective is a constant source of questions.

The most common Benzimidazoles are Fenbendazole, Mebendazole and Albendazole. In our analysis, we include research for all three drugs together in articles as they are very similar to one another and it improves the ability to tie together different studies. You may see the following terms/acronyms used.

  • FZ or FBZ means Fenbendazole
  • MBZ means Mebendazole
  • AZ means Albendazole

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Cancer Type #10: Colon Cancer

The following quote is from the article In vitro and in vivo anticancer activity of mebendazole in colon cancer: a promising drug repositioning.

MBZ was more selective than DOX in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells compared to normal cells (2. 75 vs. 2.45). Annexin V / PI staining demonstrated that MBZ treatment at IC50 concentrations induced (78 ± 12%) apoptosis in the HT29 cancer cell line after 48 h (P ≤ 0.0001). Also, in mice bearing colon cancer, MBZ significantly reduced the tumor volume (1177 ± 1,109 mm3; P ≤ 0.001) and tumor weight (2.30 ± 1.97 g; P ≤ 0.0001) compared to the negative control group (weight 12.45 ± 2.0 g; volume 7346 ± 1077). Also, MBZ increases mean survival time (MST) and increase life span (ILS) percentage in the animal study (51.2 ± 37% vs 93%, respectively). This study suggests that mebendazole strongly and selectively inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in colon cancer cells. It may be, accordingly, a promising drug for clinical research and application.

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Adding up the Studies of Fenbendazole Versus Cancer

There are many studies of Fenbendazole, Mebendazole, Albendazole, and other Benzimidazole derivatives versus cancer.

Due to the success of these studies and the information published in the study publications, the specific mechanisms by which these Benzimidazole-based Anthelmintics work against cancer are at this point well understood. There has not been a study published for every cancer type using one of the Benzimidazole derivatives. There are a very large number of different cancer types and limited funding for this type of research.

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How Many Major Cancer Types Are There Studies For?

When I completed my analysis, I found 18 different types of cancer types which demonstrated effectiveness versus cancer. In many cases, these different cancer types had multiple cancer studies testing the different Benzimidazole derivatives.

Cancer centers do not apply the large body of published studies on the effectiveness of Benzimidazole derivatives to include as part of their treatment offerings. This is true even though Fenbendazole has been demonstrated to improve chemotherapy outcomes.

To understand the mechanisms by which Benzimidazole derivatives work against cancer, see the following few examples. To see all of the known mechanisms that I have compiled from all of the studies see the article on the mechanisms listed below.

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The Multiple Mechanisms by Which Fenbendazole Works Against Cancer

There are many ways in which Fenbendazole works against cancer including.

  • Reducing metastasis
  • Increase autophagy
  • Increase cancer cell death or apoptosis
  • and much more

This topic is covered in the article By How Many Different Mechanisms Does Fenbendazole Fight Cancer?