Study: Gout Medication May Be Useful in Fighting Colorectal Cancer

Colchicine, a medicine derived from the dried seeds of the crocus that has long been used to prevent or relieve gout attacks, may also be useful in fighting colorectal cancer, according to Uzbek researchers.

Zulfiya Enikeeva, a researcher at the Uzbek Health Ministry's oncology research center, reported that more than 1,000 mice inoculated with colorectal cancer cells were subsequently treated the mice with a lower-toxicity colchicine derivative called K48.

The treatments lasted eight to 10 days, with one injection or oral dose per day. Ten days after the treatments, Enikeeva reported about 60 percent of the treated rodents showed no signs of tumors.

Enikeeva said K48 potentially could be taken by patients who undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy because the drug appears to stimulate the immune system rather than weakening it.

"The toxicity of K48 is 360 times lower than the toxicity of colchicine," Enikeeva told United Press International.

"The medication is potentially promising," added Zainab Khushbaktova of the pharmacology department of Uzbekistan's Research Institute of Vegetable Substances Chemistry.

Other sources: UPI