Anticoagulant Can Prevent Cancer Spread

A study has found that a common anticoagulant drug, heparin, can help prevent the spread of cancer. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (USA), was published in the March 13issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers found that heparin, delivered intravenously, works by interfering with interactions between platelets and specific molecules on cancer cell surfaces, preventing them from spreading to new areas of the body. Earlier studies in the 1960s and 1970s showed heparin stemmed the spread of cancer when delivered intravenously but research into the subject was discontinued when follow-up studies were unable to repeat the results with anticoagulants taken orally.

Findings from the new study show that the anti-metastatic effect of heparin is not due to its ability to prevent blood clotting, as was previously thought, but rather its blockage of early tumor-platelet interactions in the bloodstream. Oral anticoagulants, say the researchers, work by a completely different mechanism and do not block these interactions.

"The notion of using anticoagulants to inhibit metastasis is not new,” said the study's author, Ajit Varki. "However, our new findings suggest that heparin therapy to prevent the spread of cancer in humans should be revisited, with a completely new paradigm in mind.”



Related Links:
University of California