“The two drugs work through different mechanisms of action,  but there is a synergistic effect that inhibits the growth of  prostate cancer cells,” said Xi Cheng, assistant research  professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, who  conducted the study. His team administered a combination of Celebrex, a  non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat arthritis  and other pain, and Lipitor, a cholesterol lowering statin, to  cultured mice tumors in order to measure the transition of  early prostate cancer to its more aggressive and potentially  fatal stage. Both drugs are sold by Pfizer Inc, but the company played  no role in the National Institutes of Health-funded study,  Zheng said. The researcher said both drugs have been shown in earlier  studies to have some impact on cancer growth when used alone. The Rutgers team found that the combination of low doses of  Lipitor and Celebrex had a more potent impact on tumor growth  than a higher dose of either agent when used separately. Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death  in men in the United States, with more than a quarter-million  new cases appearing each year, according to the American Cancer  Society. In the early stage of the disease, prostate cancer cells  depend on androgen hormones, such as testosterone, to grow. Treatment involves either decreasing the production of the  hormone or blocking its action. “Anti-androgen therapy slows the prostate cancer but  eventually the cancer becomes androgen-independent, the therapy  becomes ineffective and the cancer cells become more  aggressive,” said Zheng. “Treatments available for the later stage cancers are not  very good,” Allan Conney, director of cancer research at  Rutgers, said in a statement. “Oncologists employ classical  chemotherapy drugs which are very toxic and don’t work all that  well.”    The objective of the Rutgers study was to indefinitely  delay the transition to androgen-independence, prolonging the  time during which the cancer would be responsive to  low-toxicity, anti-hormone therapy. Zheng said it appears that a cell signaling pathway for  tumor cell growth is inhibited by the combination of the two  compounds. He said human clinical trials are being planned.
Celebrex-Lipitor combo may fight prostate cancer.