Mebendazole

Mebendazole is an inhibitor of microtubule polymerization and an anthelmintic.¹ It reduces microtubule polymerization in a cell-free assay when used at a concentration of 10 µM. Mebendazole reduces container attachment, a measure of viability, by G. duodenalis with a half-maximal inhibition of binding (IB₅₀) value of 190 nM.² It reduces the proliferation of SK-MEL-19 and M14 melanoma cell lines (IC₅₀s = 300 and 320 µM, respectively) and induces apoptosis and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage in SK-MEL-19 and M14 cells, but not melanocytes, when used at a concentration of 1 µM.³ It decreases oxidative stress-induced cell death in primary mouse cortical neurons in a concentration-dependent manner.¹ In vivo, mebendazole (800 µg/animal every other day) decreases tumor volume, weight, hemoglobin levels, and vascularization in an H460 lung cancer mouse xenograft model.⁴ Mebendazole (8.8 mg/kg) eradicates S. vulgaris, S. edentates, and S. equinus worm burden in infected ponies.⁵ Formulations containing mebendazole have been used in the treatment of helminth gastrointestinal infections.

WARNING This product is not for human or veterinary use.

1. Aleyasin, H., Karuppagounder, S.S., Kumar, A., et al. Antihelminthic benzimidazoles are novel HIF activators that prevent oxidative neuronal death via binding to tubulin. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 22(2), 121-134 (2015).

2. Morgan, U.M., Reynoldson, J.A., and Thompson, R.C.A. Activities of several benzimidazoles and tubulin inhibitors against Giardia spp. in vitro. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 37(2), 328-331 (1993).

3. Doudican, N., Rodriguez, A., Osman, I., et al. Mebendazole induces apoptosis via Bcl-2 inactivation in chemoresistant melanoma cells. Mol. Cancer Res. 6(8), 1308-1315 (2008).

4. Mukhopadhyay, T., Sasaki, J.i., Ramesh, R., et al. Mebendazole elicits a potent antitumor effect on human cancer cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Clin. Cancer Res. 8(9), 2963-2969 (2002).

5. Colglazier, M.L., Enzie, F.D., and Kates, K.C. Critical anthelmintic trials in ponies with four benzimidazoles: Mebendazole, cambendazole, fenbendazole, and albendazole. J. Parasitol. 63(4), 724-727 (1977).