DIGOXIN AND THE PROSTATE
COULD AN OLD HEART DRUG REDUCE THE RISK OF PROSTATE CANCER? ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS
Digoxin is a derivative of the foxglove plant in use for decades as a heart medication. Now research by William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, has shown the drug may have a benefit in preventing prostate cancer.
NELSON: Men who had taken digoxin had a lower risk of developing prostate cancer. I think what this is going to do is to lead us to think about what digoxin exactly is doing to prostate cancer cells and if its something that we can tease apart or learn about at the detailed molecular level perhaps this is an avenue for some new treatments for the disease. :19
Nelson says it’s way too early to recommend using digoxin to reduce one’s risk of prostate cancer.NELSON: Before anyone would take digoxin for the purpose of prostate cancer we would need to study it in a very careful way in a clinical trial that assessed the risks and the benefits. :09
At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
