Study: Rapamycin Can Inhibit Cancer Development

German researchers report that the choice of immunosuppresive drugs that organ transplant patients receive could have a direct influence on their chances of developing cancer.

The researchers at the University of Regensburg, Germany, report that the newer immunosuppressive drug, rapamycin, may reduce the risk of subsequent tumor development, whereas older drugs such as cycosporine could facilitate cancer growth.

Rapamycin could thus represent an attractive treatment choice for transplant recipients at high-risk for cancer development, Dr. Edward K. Geissler reported in Nature Medicine.

Geissler and his colleagues tested the effects of rapamycin and cyclosporine in a mouse model of liver metastasis from colon cancer.

They reported that mice treated with rapamycin had a reduced presence of tumor in the liver, whereas those treated with cyclosporin showed an increased amount of liver cancer. The scientists said they believed rapamycin prevents the development of cancer by blocking angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels).

"Rapamycin might be an effective alternative to conventional cyclosporine-based therapies in high-risk patients, particularly in transplant medicine where de novo and recurrent neoplasms are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality," Geissler concluded.