ArticleOncotarget2018
Mebendazole stimulates CD14+ myeloid cells to enhance T-cell activation and tumour cell killing.
Article in Oncotarget, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- A phase 2a clinical study on the safety and efficacy of individualized dosed mebendazole in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Spontaneous aging-associated inflammation and genome instability in the immune system of turquoise killifish.Nature aging · 2026Article
- Characterization of the anticancer effect of mebendazole and its interaction with standard cytotoxic drugs in patient tumor cellsOncology reports · 2026Article
- Mebendazole-Treated Human Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells Represent Promoted Immunogenic Phenotype with Augmented Expression of Inflammatory Markers.Advanced pharmaceutical bulletin · 2025Article
- Critical dysregulated signaling pathways in drug resistance: highlighting the repositioning of mebendazole for cancer therapy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Rafoxanide negatively modulates STAT3 and NF-κB activity and inflammation-associated colon tumorigenesis.Cancer science · 2024Article
- Anthelmintic Drugs as Emerging Immune Modulators in Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Mebendazole Increases Anticancer Activity of Radiotherapy in Radiotherapy-Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells by Enhancing Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Review
- Upregulation of MTA1 in Colon Cancer Drives A CD8Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Fucoidan Independently Enhances Activity in Human Immune Cells and Has a Cytostatic Effect on Prostate Cancer Cells in the Presence of Nivolumab.Marine drugs · 2021Article
- Review
- In silico molecular target prediction unveils mebendazole as a potent MAPK14 inhibitor.Molecular oncology · 2020Article
- Mebendazole is unique among tubulin-active drugs in activating the MEK-ERK pathway.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- The Antitumor Potentials of Benzimidazole Anthelmintics as Repurposing Drugs.Immune network · 2020Review
- Mebendazole as a Candidate for Drug Repurposing in Oncology: An Extensive Review of Current Literature.Cancers · 2019Review
- Mebendazole-induced M1 polarisation of THP-1 macrophages may involve DYRK1B inhibition.BMC research notes · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mebendazole (MBZ) was recently shown to induce a tumor suppressive M1 phenotype in THP-1 monocytes and macrophages. In the present study the immune effects of MBZ was further investigated using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) co-cultured with tumour cells. The Biomap platform was used to screen for biomarkers induced from MBZ exposed co-cultures of T-cell receptor activated PBMCs, HT29 colon cancer cells and either human fibroblasts or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cells. In these co-culture systems MBZ at 0.3-10 μM induced significant increases in TNFα and IFNγ indicating immune stimulation. PBMC cultures alone were subsequently tested for activation status and only in PBMCs activated by CD3/IL2 stimulation and MBZ, at a clinically achievable concentration, was able to increase PBMC clustering and release of pro-inflammatory IFNγ, TNFα, IL6 and IL1β cytokines. Moreover, when PBMC cultures were functionally tested for immune cell killing of lung cancer A549NucLightRed cells, MBZ significantly increased tumour cell apoptosis and reduced the number of surviving tumour cells. This effect was dependent on the presence of CD14 monocytes/macrophages in the co-culture. In summary, MBZ potentiated the immune stimulatory and anticancer effects of anti-CD3/IL2 activated PBMCs which could be relevant to explain the anticancer activity of MBZ observed in the clinic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.