New Task: Malaria Drug Might Inhibit Some Cancers

April 9, 2008 / Add comment

Drugs sometimes have unexpected side effects, but rarely are those side effects as promising as one found for the anti-malarial medication chloroquine. In the 1970s and '80s, writes Seppa in this brief but hopeful piece, millions of Tanzanian children received the drug to combat malaria. While little headway was made against the disease, doctors were surprised to note that the children showed significantly fewer cases of Burkitt's lymphoma. Now researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found similar results in laboratory mice. Chloroquine seems to combat the over-production of a protein called myc, which triggers out-of-control replication of lymphocytes; early application of chloroquine could prevent that cancer-causing scenario.