The drug suramin was a breakthrough in the combat against sleeping sickness in the 1920s. Scientists of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ) have now been able to show that this substance is also effective against acute liver failure.
In the latest issue of the science magazine Nature Medicine*, Dr. Sören Eichhorst, Dr. Andreas Krueger and colleagues of the division headed by Professor Peter Krammer describe a promising new application for the tried and tested medicine. They have discovered that suramin inhibits programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in liver cells. This effect is liver-specific: In the cells of other tissues the substance sometimes even promotes cell death.
Fulminant hepatic failure or acute liver failure (ALF) can occur as a result of drug or mushroom poisoning as well as of infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV). In ALF, the majority of liver cells (hepatocytes) die by apoptosis. To date, there is no medicine against this process. Researchers at DKFZ have induced liver failure experimentally in mice and have shown that animals treated instantly with suramin survived significantly longer than untreated animals.
In most cases, ALF in humans takes a fatal course, too. Clinical trials will now be initiated to determine whether the protective effect of suramin can improve the chance of survival in sufferers.
The drug was developed and launched under the name Germanin in 1916 by what was then “Farbenfabrik Bayer AG". Suramin was the first effective medicine to treat sleeping disease which, at the time, occured in devastating epidemics in large parts of Africa. Later on, suramin was successfully used in the treatment of river blindness, a common tropical disease caused by a worm. It has also been tested against the AIDS virus. The substance is presently being tested as a therapy in various tumor diseases.
*Suramin inhibits death receptor induced apoptosis in vitro and fulminant apoptotic liver damage in mice. Sören T. Eichhorst, Andreas Krueger, Susanne Müerköster, Stefanie C. Fas, Alexander Golks, Uwe Gruetzner, Louise Schuber, Christine Opelz, Manfred Bilzer, Alexander L. Gerbes and Peter H. Krammer Nature Medicine June 2004
About DKFZ
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
- National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT, 6 sites)
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK, 8 sites)
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ) Heidelberg
- Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HI-TRON Mainz) - A Helmholtz Institute of the DKFZ
- DKFZ-Hector Cancer Institute at the University Medical Center Mannheim
- National Cancer Prevention Center (jointly with German Cancer Aid)
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.