Study on Cytotoxic Effects of Anthelmintic Albendazole in Various Human Cancer and Normal Cell Lines

The purpose of this study was to examine the cytotoxic effects of albendazole, known as anthelmintic in human cancer (A-549, AGS, MKN-74, SNU 601, HCT-116, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and U87-MG) and normal (MRC-5, DSC, USMSC and HEK-293) cell lines derived from various tissues. Following 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, the cell growth was highly inhibited below 1 μM albendazole treatment, and the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were especially lower in the HCT-116, A549 and AGS cancer cell lines, compared with others cell lines. A high incidence of cells with activity of senescence-associated ß-galactosidase was also observed in the albendazole-treated cells. Thus, the albendazole treatment was effectively induced the inhibition of cell growth in both cancer and normal cell lines. Moreover, the cell doubling time was significantly lower in the HCT-116, A549 and AGS cancer cell lines with lower IC50 values, compared with others cell lines. Based on present results, albendazole could serve as a potent chemical/drug for cancer therapy, as its treatment was more available in cell lines with a high cell growth capacity.