PPAR-alpha's in cancer

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Harvard University researchers demonstrated an anticancer effect in mice taking oral doses of the generic dyslipidemia drug fenofibrate.¹ The good safety profile of the peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor-a agonist has led the researchers to begin a Phase II trial.

Fenofibrate's antiangiogenic effects were first identified in 2003,² but it was not until last year that researchers looked at the effects of peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor-a (PPAR-a) agonists in primary tumors.³ The PNAS paper confirms these results and goes a step further, showing that fenofibrate can slow tumor growth at doses comparable to those doctors prescribe for the drug's approved lipid-lowering indication...