Survival rates were highest among the patients who had taken both sildenafil and statins, a common class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, six months before their diagnosis, the data showed.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The laboratory tests focused mostly on cancers such as triple-negative breast cancer, melanoma, and lung cancer.<\/p>\n The real-world patient data \u201cconfirmed our findings in male mice for lung, colon and prostate cancer,\u201d Erez told The Times of Israel by telephone.<\/p>\n She emphasized that the next step is to \u201cpush medicine\u201d by giving women a drug traditionally associated with men\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe uniqueness and the most important thing that we now need to do is a clinical trial to give Viagra to women with triple-negative breast cancer,\u201d Erez said.<\/p>\n \t Halting cancer\u2019s spread by stopping cholesterol<\/p>\n Sildenafil was initially developed to treat heart conditions because it opened blood vessels. Then, doctors realized it could also effectively treat male erectile dysfunction, and was approved for that use in 1998.<\/p>\n Now, the research team gave the drug to both male and female mouse models and human cancer cells. Using high-resolution cellular imaging to observe and track the changes in real time, the scientists saw how the drug acted quickly, immediately obstructing an enzyme known as phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5). This triggered a spike in the key chemical messenger, cyclic GMP (cGMP).<\/p>\n Next, the scientists saw that cGMP targeted and then trapped a protein responsible for transporting cholesterol, the essential fuel that cancer cells rely on to invade other organs. Deprived of this cholesterol, the cancer cells lost their ability to spread, resulting in significantly fewer metastases.<\/p>\n \t \u201cWe uncovered a new biological pathway and showed how this pathway can be harnessed,\u201d said Erez, who is also a practicing physician and serves as a senior researcher and dean of Weizmann\u2019s Miriam and Aaron Gutwirth Medical School.<\/p>\n However, in the next part of the experiment, the researchers saw that the cancer cells weren\u2019t ready to give up the fight.<\/p>\n Once sildenafil kept away the mobile cholesterol, the cancer cells activated a system to produce more cholesterol on their own. That\u2019s when the scientists gave the cancer cells statins, a well-known drug.<\/p>\n According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 200 million people worldwide take statins<\/a> to lower their cholesterol levels.<\/p>\n The statins combined with sildenafil worked in tandem, maintaining low cholesterol levels and preventing the cancer from spreading.<\/p>\n Confirmation through data from more than 5 million patients<\/p>\n Dr. Samah Hayek, senior epidemiologist at Clalit Health Services and a senior lecturer in Tel Aviv University\u2019s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, told The Times of Israel that the Weizmann researchers contacted her to check their lab findings against Clalit patient data.<\/p>\n Hayek said the researchers wanted her to investigate what happened to cancer patients who received Viagra and statins six months before their cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used different statistical and epidemiological methods to adjust for many different factors, and found that the results were consistent with what the Weizmann researchers saw in their mouse modeling,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s where the combination of two different disciplines came together, and we succeeded in answering an important research question.\u201d<\/p>\n \t According to Dr. Ido Wolf, head of the oncology division at Tel Aviv Medical Center and head of Tel Aviv University\u2019s Medical School, \u201cThe study highlights a fascinating and underappreciated aspect of cancer biology.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolf was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n \u201cMetastatic cancer cells critically depend on cholesterol, and disrupting its intracellular trafficking represents a previously unrecognized therapeutic vulnerability,\u201d he explained. \u201cBeyond uncovering this mechanism, the authors support their findings with population-scale real-world clinical data.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolf emphasized that the findings \u201cdemonstrate the potential for rapid drug repurposing using widely available, well-established medications such as sildenafil and statins.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the part of translational science that goes from the lab, from mouse modeling to human modeling,\u201d Hayek said. \u201cWe try to translate the science and then give the science to the patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Erez added that she thought the message the research also conveyed \u201cis not just to focus on the cancer mutation and the tumor microenvironment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to add the patients to the equation,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat they eat, their physical activity, and the drugs that they are taking. It\u2019s important to look at patients as a whole organism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this,<\/strong> please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community.<\/strong> Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tWeizmann Institute of Science research shows breast cancer tissue after treatment with Sildenafil. Cholesterol (green) is trapped within tiny sac-like organelles called lysosomes, making it unavailable to the cancer cells. Cell nuclei are shown in purple. (Courtesy\/Weizmann Institute of Science)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iStock-1334248647-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIllustrative image: a doctor holds up a pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness. (dragana991 via iStock by Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10101-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tDr. Ido Wolf, head of the oncology division, Tel Aviv Medical Center, and head of Tel Aviv University\u2019s medical school. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
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\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
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