Itraconazol, an Antifungal and a Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor for Treatment of Prostate Cancer
Abstract
A commonly used antifungal, Itraconazol targets a pathway that is also upregulated in human prostate cancer. It was observed that Itraconazol synergizes with cyclopamine to induce superior therapeutic effects. Cyclopamine is toxic, however, when combined with itraconazol the dose requirement for each drug was considerably reduced. This combination therefore has the potential to be more effective and at the same time less toxic. The most important aspect of this finding is that these are existing drugs whose safety and toxicological profiles are known. This project seeks to investigate the efficacy of Itraconazol against prostate cancer with an intention to accelerate its rapid translation into human clinical trials. We are in the process of identifying a combination of drugs for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Although these are preclinical studies, however, if the efficacy of the drug can be established against prostate cancer in this proof-of-principle study then clinical trials could be immediately started based on the fact that these are existing drugs with all the information about toxicity and dose. The drugs do not have to undergo the mandatory initial trials to establish dose and toxicity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1026508
Entities
People
- Hasan Mukhtar
Organizations
- University of Wisconsin System