New Research Suggests Existing Cancer Drugs May Hold Promise in Treating Lyme Disease
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year, although it is difficult to determine the total number of people who contract the illness. Lyme disease can cause a range of symptoms, including headaches, fever, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and a distinctive bullseye rash. If left untreated, it can lead to more severe complications such as arthritis, facial palsy, heart palpitations, and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
However, recent research conducted at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) suggests a potential breakthrough in the treatment of Lyme disease. Patrick Pearson, a postdoctoral researcher at UMass’s New England Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases, stumbled upon the idea that certain cancer drugs may also be effective against Lyme disease. Cancer cells and the bacteria that cause Lyme disease both rely on breaking down sugar for energy and require a protein called lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) to enable this process. LDH inhibitors, used as drug therapies for certain cancers, have been found to stop the growth of Lyme bacteria in laboratory research.
“We tried multiple types and some worked; some didn’t work,” said Dr. Mark Rich, executive director of UMass’s New England Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases. “Some of the ones that worked, there were certain ones that work better than others.”
The next step for researchers is to test these LDH inhibitors on mice. If the treatments continue to prove effective, they could be further tested on companion animals and eventually move on to human testing. While it will take several years and more testing before LDH inhibitors can be approved as a treatment for Lyme disease, Dr. Rich believes the process may be faster compared to developing a completely new treatment.
“One of the advantages of this approach is that these are drugs that . . . are already in use for other things,” he explained. “So it’s a little bit shorter path.”
However, before moving forward, further experiments will be conducted to ensure that the LDH inhibitors do not harm other beneficial bacteria in the body, such as gut bacteria that help regulate the body’s microbiome.
In conclusion, this research offers hope for finding an effective treatment for Lyme disease by repurposing existing cancer drugs. While more testing is needed, the potential to repurpose drugs already in use could streamline the approval process and provide relief to the thousands of Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year.
For inquiries, contact Jeremy C. Fox at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox.
Sources:
– US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
– University of Massachusetts (UMass)