The Testing Evidence for Using Mebendazole for Treating Liver Cancer

ByPrimary Researcher

Executive Summary

  • This article covers the evidence I could find for Mebendazole as a treatment for Liver 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

This article provides an overview covering the evidence for Mebendazole and related drugs versus Liver Cancer.

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.

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

Go to top

Cancer Type #12: Liver Cancer

The following quote is from the article Mebendazole prevents distant organ metastases in part by decreasing ITGβ4 expression and cancer stemness.

At the endpoint of the experiment, we extracted genomic DNA from mouse lungs and livers to measure metastatic spread using qPCR to quantify human HK2 DNA content. Mice treated with 215 ppm MBZ feed had significantly reduced lung (Fig. 4F; Additional file 2: Fig. S3D) and no detectable liver metastases (Fig. 4G; Additional file 2: Fig. S3E).

To rule out the effect of primary tumor size contributing to the difference in metastasis, we normalized HK2 DNA content by individual tumor weight and compared it to the mean of the control group. The results demonstrated that MBZ reduces lung metastasis to a greater extent than it inhibits tumor growth and MBZ completely abolishes liver metastases.

Go to top

Adding up the Studies of Mebendazole 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.

Go to top

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.

Go to top

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?