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Rituximab and Mebendazole (Vermox) - A possible similar mode of action?

Messages
90
Location
Sydney, Australia
Theres a slight possibility that I might have stumbled across a link between the mechanism of action of rituximab and mebendazole (Vermox), and there connection to autoimmunity.

There was a thread started by Justy a couple of months ago where a few people noticed some improvement in symptoms after taking mebendazole as a worm treatment.

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/show...ent-for-worms-has-helped-my-gut-a-bit-but-why

The post in particular which caught my attention was by Kurt (#24) where he sites a Harvard study outlining mebendazoles ability to stimulate OXPHOS transcription while suppressing reactive oxygen species.

Well a month ago I thought that Id give it a go, and to my amazement, the first time I tried it, I experienced a symptom improvement (very unusual for me), but only while I was on the drug. I was dosing in accordance with Smygens post (#34) i.e. 200mg twice a day for three days.

Ive just finished my second 3 day trial and experienced a similar result. Its a bit hard to describe what this improvement actually was, but its more like an overall increase in my sense of well-being. My level of function is fairly low, so any improvement is always very noticeable.

All of this led me to further investigate the possible mechanism behind mebendazole, and I came across the work proposing that mebendazole could reduce melanomas through the inhibition of BCL-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2).

http://mcr.aacrjournals.org/content/6/8/1308.short

I dont pretend to understand even half of this stuff, but it appears to me that at least part of the action of rituximab involves BCL-2 inhibition as well.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15077178

I further discovered that BCL-2 is also involved in autoimmunity.

http://www.nature.com/cddis/journal/v1/n6/abs/cddis201027a.html

The improvement with mebendazole is quite puzzling, and is worthy of further investigation on its own. Maybe the response is due to the mechanism proposed by the Harvard research group, or maybe its due to its parasitic action, but Im not convinced of the latter.

Regardless of whether or not the taking of mebendazole in this off-label manner is a good or bad thing, Im interested in getting feedback from some greater minds out there, as to whether there is any connection between the mode of action of rituximab and mebendazole, or am I just completely barking up the wrong tree.

Any thoughts?

All the best,

Sandra