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By Alan Mozes<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Erectile dysfunction<\/a> (ED<\/a>) drugs<\/a> such as Viagra<\/a>, Cialis<\/a> and Levitra<\/a> may do more than restore sexual function — they may also prolong the lives of men with colon cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n That’s the conclusion of a new Swedish study, which reported that the risk of premature death dropped by as much as 18% among colon cancer<\/a> patients who used ED<\/a> drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n The medications were also linked to a 15% reduction in risk for the key cause of death from colon cancer<\/a> — that is, cancer<\/a> that has spread.<\/p>\n “This is the first population-based study to explore the effect of these drugs on the death risk in men with colorectal cancer<\/a>,” said lead author Wuqing Huang, a doctoral candidate at Lund University in Sweden.<\/p>\n She and her colleagues focused on so-called “PDE5 inhibitors” –drugs that address impotence<\/a> by regulating penile blood flow.<\/p>\n “There are two reasons why we considered the anti-cancer<\/a> possibility of these drugs,” Huang said.<\/p>\n Prior studies suggested that ED<\/a> drugs can inhibit tumor<\/a> growth in mice and activity of a gene called PDE5A. Huang said past work suggested colon cancer<\/a> patients with lower PDE5A activity levels may live “significantly longer” than others.<\/p>\n To get a better handle on the cancer<\/a>-fighting potential of the drugs, the researchers used a nationwide database to identify men in Sweden who were diagnosed with colon cancer<\/a> between 2005 and 2014.<\/p>\n After excluding patients with late-stage cancer, researchers focused on more than 11,300 cancer patients who were not taking an ED<\/a> drug and about 1,100 patients who were. (No one was instructed to use the drugs if they weren’t already doing so.)<\/p>\n Over more than four years of follow-up, about 10% of those who used an ED<\/a> drug died, compared to 17.5% of patients who did not. The risk was even lower for those in the ED<\/a> group who also had cancer surgery.<\/p>\n Huang said the explanation for the drugs’ anti-tumor<\/a> effect isn’t yet clear. It could have to do with the beneficial impact EDs have on immune function, reduced cell death and chemotherapy<\/a> sensitivity, she said.<\/p>\n But until researchers can get a better understanding, “it is not suggested for colon cancer patients to get ED medications to control their cancer at this moment,” Huang said.<\/p>\n “The current evidence is not enough to provide recommendations, as our study is an observational study,” she stressed. “Clinical trials<\/a> are necessary to confirm it.”<\/p>\n Still, Dr. Andrew Chan, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who reviewed the study, said the findings were intriguing.<\/p>\n “The work extends a prior study from this group showing that these medications may reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer<\/a>,” he noted. “It is also biologically plausible that these medications may have an anti-cancer effect, since they are known to block a specific protein that may play a role in cancer development.”<\/p>\n The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications<\/i>.<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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