[Protease inhibitors as anticancer chemotherapy--experimental and clinical studies]

A synthetic protease inhibitor FOY-305 (Foypan) not only inhibited the skin tumorigenesis in mice but also suppressed the growth of autochthonous solid tumor in mice. Furthermore, administration of FOY-305 inhibited the metastasis of Lewis lung carcinoma and colon adenocarcinoma to the lung in mice, experimentally and spontaneously. Clinically, FOY-305 prevented both recurrence and metastasis in the patients who had received many anticancer drugs. In 2 terminal secondary cases, tumor remission and elongation of survival time were observed. Above results suggest a possibility for applying a new type chemotherapy using protease inhibitors.