A familiar drug, new questions
Ivermectin is a drug with an interesting history. It was discovered as an antiparasitic agent and it transformed the treatment of severe parasitic diseases (river blindness and elephantiasis, for example). In 2015 its discovery was honoured with the Nobel Prize in medicine. At the ordinary doses used against parasites it is regarded as a safe drug in humans.
Today some researchers are testing whether ivermectin might be useful for more than its official indication. This is part of a wider phenomenon: scientists look for new uses for old, cheap and well-characterised drugs (in English this is called “drug repurposing”). Ivermectin made headlines in relation to viral disease, but some laboratories are also examining whether the substance has any effect at all on cancer cells. Note: these are research questions for now, not a confirmed treatment.
What happens in the cell — the researchers' hypotheses
Those who propose adding ivermectin to supportive therapy (in regimens devised by groups such as the FLCCC, for instance) cite in-vitro studies. In vitro means “in glass” — experiments carried out on cultured cells in the laboratory, in a dish, not on living patients. It is an important distinction, because something that works on cells in a dish need not work in a person. These preliminary studies suggest several ways ivermectin might act on tumour cells:
- Disrupting the flow of ions across the cell membrane: cancer cells divide fast and need a balance of electrical charge to do so. Ivermectin may open a route for an uncontrolled influx of charged particles (chloride ions) into the cell. Such a sudden influx unsettles the cell, causes stress in it and may switch on its “self-destruct programme” (technically: apoptosis, or programmed cell death).
- Cutting off energy (hitting the mitochondria): mitochondria are the tiny “power stations” inside the cell. Test-tube studies suggest that ivermectin may impede their work in cancer cells, so they produce less energy. Put simply — it tries to “starve” the tumour cell.
- Blocking growth-signalling: cells communicate through internal “signalling pathways” — something like a chain of commands. In many cancers (breast, ovarian or colorectal, for example) some of those pathways run at full throttle and drive growth. Ivermectin appears to quieten part of that signalling, which under laboratory conditions can slow cell proliferation.
Not ivermectin alone — the add-ons in these regimens
In the “integrative” approach, ivermectin is rarely described on its own. In regimens such as I-CARE it is combined with other substances said to reinforce its action. The ones most often listed are popular anti-inflammatory and immune-related supplements — vitamin D3, zinc and vitamin C, for instance, plus plant extracts (such as a green tea constituent or turmeric). Advocates claim such a mixture alters the tumour's environment. It must be stressed, though: the efficacy of such combinations in humans has not been confirmed in rigorous studies.
Why this is difficult and dangerous
Even if some effect on cells is visible in the laboratory, translating it into a living human body (in vivo, “in the living organism”) is very hard. The basic problem: to harm a tumour you would have to deliver a high concentration of the drug to it — and such a concentration throughout the body can poison the patient.
Particularly dangerous are the ideas circulating online of taking enormous, experimental amounts of ivermectin — many times higher than the doses approved for humans. Such amounts are strongly toxic to people: they damage the liver and the nervous system. They must not be used.
A fuller, critical picture of how test-tube results do (or do not) translate into treatment for people — and why large clinical trials are what really count — is in our article Fenbendazole and ivermectin — a review of the laboratory research. The molecule's own mechanism is explained in Ivermectin — how it works.
Sources
- The Nobel Committee (2015), The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 — nobelprize.org
- Juarez M, Schcolnik-Cabrera A, Dueñas-Gonzalez A (2018), The multitargeted drug ivermectin: from an antiparasitic agent to a repositioned cancer drug, American Journal of Cancer Research 8(2):317–331 — pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5835698
Educational content. SWISS LAB products are reagents intended for in-vitro laboratory research only. They are not for human consumption and are not for treatment.