Viagra, the best selling erectile dysfunction medicine in the world is now being commented on as a possible drug for cancer. The publication called The Journal of Experimental Medicine recently published an article that said that Viagra could help the body in slowing the growth of tumors and also giving the immune system a boost. In a recent study scientists saw that by using the active ingredient of Viagra (sildenafil citrate) they could shrink the cancerous tumors. When people get cancer their bodies generate antibodies that are tumor-specific and their effectiveness is cancelled out by the tumor itself. A tumor often adapts other cells to become able to avoid being detected by the human body’s immune system and thus the tumor carries on growing.

The scientist investigated whether the use of Viagra could help the body to beat this immune-suppression as they had previously learnt that the suppression of tumor cells and the production of nitric oxide were linked and therefore the scientists decided to experiment using the drug to see if it could aid the immune system of cancer patients. The Viagra drug was first tested with mice that had cancer of the colon and it was seen that their immune systems did react positively as well the fact that their tumor growth was lessened by between 50% and 70%.

The research is still in its formative days and obviously more study is needed but the money men at Pfizer must be excited about the possibility of yet another possible use for the best selling erectile dysfunction medication Viagra that could see the profits from sildenafil citrate continue to grow.

Viagra is likely in the decades to come to be seen as not just an erectile dysfunction medication but as a drug for many different ailments from arterial hypertension to cancer, but much more work needs to be done on its use in these areas.