Citizen Sentinels is happy to feature our first health article. In the future we will be presenting more health information not found in mainstream media with links to our sources. One of our writers is a retired RN. This is a technical article. So, if you have not learned this information before, or have forgotten your college biology classes, put on your “Thinking Cap” and read on.
The article sums up how Ivermectin and Mebendazole, act to directly interfere with the energy production systems of parasitic diseases, viral diseases, and different cancers. By foiling their energy production systems or their nutrient intra-cellular delivery systems, disease progression/infection is decreased and often significantly. Ivermectin has been shown to successfully synergize with older anti-cancer drugs to target disease pathways without adversely affecting healthy enzymatic
processes.(4)
But first, our Disclaimer…
This article was written by an RN and is her interpretation ONLY of the beneficial activities of these older drugs. It is presented as an effort to allow a basic understanding of how these re-purposed drugs are considered to work. There is ABSOLUTELY NO attempt to prescribe or present therapies FOR ANYONE without their active conferring with doctors or other knowledgeable professionals and medical specialists.
Just a few basics! (Time to review our biology classes)
Proteins(2) are made of amino acids chemically linked, and they can come in all kinds of molecular arrangements. Some arms of proteins (or lipids or nucleic acids) have serine, threonine or tyrosine as part of their structure. These three amino acids’ side chains can accept a phosphate molecule (1 Phosphorus + 4 Oxygen molecules linked) from an ATP molecule. Much energy is released with the breaking of the ATP phosphate-phosphate bond and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) is formed.(1)
ATP or adenosine triphosphate(6) is the primary energy storage molecule for most living organisms.
A kinase(6) is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups from ATP, thus releasing much energy.(1) They will add this phosphate group often to one of the three amino acids listed above.
A pathogenic kinase(3) is an enzyme that is involved in a disease-causing biochemical/biomolecular pathway. This powers the spread of the disease in an organism.
The term ‘apoptosis’ describes when a cell directs itself to die; it is the programmed genetic ending of that cell.(6)
Mitochondria are the energy producers---they make ATP---in a eukaryotic cell, which is a cell with an enclosed nucleus.(6) Eukaryotic cells are found in all animals and humans.(6) Bacterial cells are prokaryotic and do not have a nucleus.(6)
Organelles are “intracellular structures which perform specific functions or group of functions6.” One can think of it as a cell is to an organelle is like a body to an organ, such as the liver.
Ivermectin
Ivermectin was approved for human use in 1987. It was heavily utilized in the developing world to combat neglected tropical diseases like river blindness. The discovery of ivermectin eventually earned its co-creators, William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine.
When a person is infected with a virus or cancer, a pathogenic kinase called PAK1 is activated. PAK1 is a critical part of the infection process, and is also important for causing inflammations, cancers, malaria, HIV, Ebola, and influenza. Once PAK1 is present, its pathogenic kinase activity is to cause the release of energy by removing a phosphate group from ATP, which is the energy molecule, produced by a cell’s mitochondria. The released energy, because the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) has now become a diphosphate (ADP), is used to fuel the growth and replication of the virus. With the activation of PAK1, other proteins and enzymes in the viral replication pathway are signaled and they respond accordingly. Whether it be a virus or certain types of cancer---breast, lung, colon, esophageal, etc---this is how the disease successfully spreads or metastasizes in an organism powered by the hijacked phosphate groups of the hosts’ mitochondrial energy-producing organelles.
Additionally, PAK1 suppresses the B-cell and T-cell-based(3); immune systems as well as promotes the ‘immortalizing’ of infected cells produced by the viral or other cancer chains. The infected cells---immortalized---no longer have their lives limited by natural genetically-determined apoptosis. The diseased state remains; and with cancers, continues to migrate, invade, and grow tumors.
The negative effects of a compound such as Remdesivir unfortunately appear to have a more global, non-targeted mechanism of interaction with living organisms. Remdesivir(7) is an ATP kinase but one that appears to interfere with both healthy energy-release processes as well as infected processes caused by PAK1. It is not specific to a disease pathway like both ivermectin and fenbendazole. Thus, with Remdesivir, a host can be deprived of ATP-energies not only for cancer-infected tissues, but also for normal metabolic processes. Recovery becomes more difficult, and versus Ivermectin, thousands of dollars more expensive.
Ivermectin specifically blocks the action of viral PAK(1)(4)(9) thus blocking its downstream negative biomolecular activities. By blocking the production of stolen energetic phosphate groups which would sustain viral or some cancer types’ energies, which also aids in keeping the immune system from suppression, an organism can begin to heal itself. Cellular ATP energies are no longer being channeled into the production of more viruses or the metastasis of cancers.
It has interestingly been noted that Ivermectin serves to work synergistically with older anti-cancer drugs such as cisplatin, pitavastatin, and 5-fluorouracil.(7) Cancer cell growth was better inhibited or significantly reduced by the combination of Ivermectin and one of the above. It improved the sensitivity of cancer cells to the chemo agents thus inducing apoptosis of the cancer cell. Ivermectin therapy additionally reduced the amount of anti-cancer conventional drugs needed for successfully treating the cancers.
Mebendazole
This compound directly interferes with the tubulin polymer that forms the cellular internal transport/highway system called ‘microtubules’.(9) The microtubular system forms the cytoskeleton of the cell, keeps the various organelles (like the mitochondria) in place, and is a component of cellular propulsion---be it by cilia, or a whip-like tail called a flagellum. Mebendazole reduces glucose uptake by cancer cells and causes the microtubules to become destabilized by interfering with the formation of the tubules. Thus, no highway system able to deliver nutrients to the invading and then replicating viruses or cancer cells, thus inhibiting tumor growth and vascularization.
Mebendazole is additionally thought to alter the signaling pattern with other tumor-causing genes and proteins, as well as to be an effective anti-proliferative versus parasites.(9)
Sources
(1) Https:/www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/life-science/protein-biolo…
(2) How Stuff Works/Science/Life Science/Cellular and Microscopic Biology,
by Marshall Brain,
(3) PAK1-blockers: Potential Therapeutics against COVID-19
https:/www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590098620300269
(4) Ivermectin suppresses tumor growth and metastasis through degradation of PAK1 in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine,
March 31, 2020; Lian Chen, Shuning Bi, Qiuren Wei, Zhijun Zhao, Chaojie Wang, and Songqiang Xie
(5) Fenbendazole acts as a moderate microtubule destabilizing agent and causes cancer cell death by modulating multiple cellular pathways,
http:/www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30158-6, August 9, 2018; Scientific Reports 8, Article number: 11926 (2018); Nilambra Dogra, Ashok Kumar, Tapas Mukhopadhyay
(6) Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology, ninth edition, Frederic H. Martini, Judi L. Nath, Edwin F. Bartholomew, copyright 2012, published by Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco, California; pages G1-G21
(7) Ivermectin Could be a Powerful Drug for Fighting Cancer, Here’s Why, Epoch Health, https:/www.theepochtimes.com/health/ivermectin-could-be-a-power…, March 21, 2024; Marina Zhang
(8) Medical News Bulletin, How Does Remdesivir Work?, Medical news Bulletin.com/how-does-remdesivir-work, November 2, 2020; Megan Cisecki
(9) Real World Clinical Outcomes of Ivermectin and Mebendazole in Cancer Patients: Results from a Prospective Observational Cohort, Anticancer Research, June 2026, 46 (6) 3243-3255; Nicholas Hulscher, Kelly Victory, James A. Thorp, Drew Pinsky, Alejandero Diaz-Villalobos, Peter Gillooly, Foster Coulson, Melissa Annazone, Chloe Radesi, Jessica Brooks, Peter A. McCullough, and Harvey Risch