A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has found that digoxin, a drug widely used to treat congestive heart failure, is an effective therapy for a rare and aggressive form of endometrial cancer.
The findings, published in the July issue of the journal Gynecologic Oncology, were a surprise to the researchers, says Cheng-Han Lee, associate professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology and Sawin-Baldwin Chair in Ovarian Cancer.
"People had begun to uncover the anti-cancer role of digoxin about a decade and a half ago," says Lee, who was senior author on the study. "But they never figured out why it seemed to work on some cancers and not others, so it was difficult to translate the findings to clinical practice."
