Laura Benzaquen and Jose Halperin have found that a common antifungal agent, clotrimazole, inhibits cell proliferation. The drug is now being tested as a treatment for a wide variety of diseases. This uncontrolled dividing of cells is the hallmark of a multitude of diseases, from atherosclerosis to cancer. Harvard Medical School researchers have found an agent that may be able to control this unwanted cell proliferation. In the June 1 issue of Nature Medicine, they report that clotrimazole, a common drug for fungal infections, inhibits the division of cancerous and noncancerous cells, both in vitro and in animals.
Many human pathologies involve cell proliferation, both benign and malignant.
CLT has been safely used, and sold over the counter, for many years to treat commonplace fungal infections, such as athlete's foot and vaginal yeast infections. Moreover, the dose of CLT that inhibits cell proliferation is similar to dosage levels prescribed for fungal infections. That is an ideal type of application because we don't have to worry about toxicity. The discovery of clotrimazole's hidden properties as a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation was not just a matter of serendipity. For years, Halperin and his colleagues in the Laboratory for Membrane Transport have been studying the movement of ions across channels in the membrane of the cell.