The fenben cancer treatment is an alternative medicine that’s being promoted by unlicensed veterinarians in videos posted on Facebook and TikTok. The dog wormer ingredient fenbendazole is known to disrupt microtubules, the structures that provide structure for all cells in living things and which cancer cells use to grow. Cancer Research UK says there’s insufficient evidence to show it can cure cancer.

Benzimidazole compounds have been shown to interfere with energy metabolism of parasites. In cancer cells, glucose uptake is often several times higher than in normal cells and inhibition of this uptake can lead to cell death.

In vitro clonogenic assays showed that high doses of fenbendazole (FZ) significantly reduced EMT6 tumor cells’ growth and cytotoxicity. A similar cytotoxic effect was seen when the cells were treated with the fluorescent glucose analogue 2-NBDG (Fig. 8a).

To examine the effect of FZ on in vivo tumorigenesis, a murine EMT6 lymphoma cell model was used. The growth of tumors in a mouse subcutaneous flank was monitored at 4-d intervals until the largest tumor reached a volume of 1500 mm3. Neither diet treatment nor irradiation alone significantly inhibited tumor growth, but three daily injections of fenbendazole followed by 10 Gy of x-rays completely blocked the growth of tumors.

Moreover, FZ treatment of H460 and A549 cells resulted in increased nuclear accumulation of WT p53 protein which correlates with enhanced apoptotic activity (Fig. 6a). In addition, acetylation of tubulin in the cells was elevated by FZ treatment and this correlates with increased p53 translocation to mitochondria (Fig. 6b, c). fenben cancer treatment