The Testing Evidence for Using Mebendazole for Treating Brain Cancer

ByPrimary Researcher

Executive Summary

  • This article covers the evidence I could find for Mebendazole as a treatment for brain cancer.

Article Summary

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

Introduction

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

This article provides an overview covering the evidence for Mebendazole and related drugs versus brain cancer. 

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 #8: Brain Cancer

The following quote is from the article Emerging Perspectives on the Antiparasitic Mebendazole as a Repurposed Drug for the Treatment of Brain Cancers.

Many research groups have investigated MBZ as a tubulin polymerization inhibitor and strongly recommend its clinical use as a replacement for vincristine for treating brain tumors [92]. In addition, many studies demonstrated its capability in reducing angiogenesis, arresting the cell cycle, and targeting several key oncogenic signal transduction pathways. Therefore, MBZ’s ability to hit multiple targets can improve the efficacy of anticancer therapy and help overcome acquired resistance to conventional chemotherapy.

One of the most relevant MBZ properties is that it exerts cancer cell-specific selectivity inducing minimal cytotoxicity in normal cells while inducing high cytotoxicity in tumor cells, showing a favorable therapeutic index for in vivo applications [89,100,101].

Although MBZ has already been under phase II / III clinical trials for cancer therapy, there are still too few experimental studies in the clinical setting for translating the preclinical study knowledge to the patient context. However, the few available experimental studies confirm the sufficient safety and efficacy of MBZ in tumor patients. MBZ has prolonged patient survival and improved patient outcomes in some clinical trials, supporting its application’s feasibility in a clinical setting. A few case reports demonstrated that patients with metastatic late-stage cancers responded to MBZ, showing reduced metastasis and stabilized disease. Ongoing clinical trials will clarify the potential use of MBZ in brain cancer treatments.

The Multiple Mechanisms by Which Mebendazole Works Against Cancer

There are many ways in which Mebendazole 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 Menbendazole Fight Cancer?