Investigation of benzimidazole anthelmintics as oral anticancer agents

Abstract

Recently, there has been social controversy regarding whether benzimidazole anthelmintic drugs can be used as anticancer drugs. On this note, we wish to address the use of current benzimidazole anthelmintic drugs for the treatment of cancer patients. We explored the anticancer efficacy of benzimidazole anthelmintic drugs in vitro and their mechanism of action. We also conducted pharmacokinetic studies of two benzimidazole anthelmintics and assessed the predictive systemic efficacy. Finally, we present the anticancer efficacy of benzimidazole anthelmintics' putative metabolites from hydrolysis. Our data suggest that benzimidazole anthelmintic drugs are not expected to show systemic anticancer efficacy in vivo due to poor pharmacokinetic parameters. Therefore, patients should not consider oxibendazole or fenbendazole as cancer treatment option.