More than 30-million men take them for erectile dysfunction, but the drugs marketed to treat male impotence are now being investigated for the treatment of more than a dozen diseases and health problems. Researchers say e-d drugs like Viagra could turn out to be as versatile as aspirin.

They are the images of happy couples that helped make erectile dysfunction drugs a three-billion-dollar business. Now doctors say those little pills may also save lives.

"I did ask them what on earth they were talking about," said Brian Kumnick, a cancer patient.

Brian Kumnick is fighting throat cancer. He's been through months of radiation and surgery.

"Well, the radiation it's barbaric. It's really barbaric, and I've lost my taste buds, for example. I can't taste anything. Water tastes like acid going down," he said.

He's part of a clinical trial to see if the E-D drug Cialis can cure head and neck cancers

"It'd be really nice to just take a pill that has a pleasant side effect," Kumnick said.

In preliminary studies, doctors at Johns Hopkins say Cialis energized patients' immune systems so their bodies could battle the cancer cells. Next, they'll test to see if the drug also shrinks tumors.

"When we looked at the blood of head and neck cancer patients, we could get their immune response to rev up to near normal levels, whereas they were suppressed maybe 75 percent, sometimes even 80 percent," said Dr. Joselph Califano, a professor in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.,

From fighting cancer, to helping hearts and lungs ... Doctors have found another use for Viagra.

"I was like, what? They said, yeah, the Viagra is due right now," said Mike Cooper, a father.

Genevieve suffers from pulmonary hypertension -- lack of oxygen causes her to pass out.

"We just hear heart transplant, lung transplant. It was devastating. She's my little girl, said Sandra Hernandez, Genevieve's mother.

Instead of a transplant, doctors prescribed Viagra in liquid form to open up her blood vessels.

"Nitric oxide was developed for these types of issues in the lungs, and one of the byproducts was, hey, this medication also can dilate blood vessels in other parts of the body and treat erectile dysfunction," said Dr. James Swift, a pediatric intensive care physician at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas.

"It's very exciting to work with drugs that have already had safety data documented on them, because they can be very quickly moved into helping patients," said Dr. Califano.

Other conditions being assessed for treatment with E-D drugs include diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic pelvic pain, strokes and even memory loss. One study reports that Viagra increased blood flow and improved glucose processes in the brain, improving learning abilities.

BACKGROUND: Most people associated the erectile dysfunction drug tadalafil (Cialis) with commercials of happy older couples, walking hand in hand, enjoying each other's company. But now doctors at The Johns Hopkins Hospital are testing to see if Cialis can help people with cancer. A new clinical trial aims to find out if the drug's tumor-fighting benefits have the potential to help those fighting head and neck cancer. So far, doctors at John Hopkins have found Cialis weakens the tumors' ability to evade immune system responses. "We think that, for a lot of patients, immune suppression may be why their tumors are so aggressive," Joseph Califano, M.D., professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., told Ivanhoe.

When someone is fighting cancer, doctors say over time tumors develop strategies for evading the body's natural immune system. By exploiting the nitric oxide produced by immune cells, tumors create a shield that keeps them hidden from the T-cells, or lymphocytes that normally attack germs and disease. Erectile dysfunction drugs are proving they can prevent the immune system from generating nitric oxide, allowing T-cells to detect and attack the tumor. In a future stage of the study, Dr. Califano will aim to find out if drugs like Cialis can also directly cause the tumors to shrink.

The link between erectile dysfunction drugs and cancer treatment was first discovered by Dr. Califano's colleague, Johns Hopkins oncology researcher Ivan Borrello. Together, the two have conducted studies in mice and human blood samples, all showing improvement in the immune response of patients who received Cialis. Other research also involved sildenafil (Viagra), which was successful, as well. However, researchers believe it has too short of a half-life to offer the same benefits as Cialis, with a half-life twice as long.

Drs. Califano and Borrello are enrolling patients in the clinical trial, which is funded by a National Cancer Institute grant. Patients are given a once-daily dose of Cialis for 10 to 14 days. At the end of the test period, their blood samples are looked at to figure the drug's success in boosting the immune system. Then patients proceed with their recommended treatment protocol, whether it's surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. Doctors say that's one of the benefits of this study – patients can participate in the clinical trial without forgoing or slowing down their other treatment options.

Right now, doctors conducting the study consider Cialis primarily as a complement to other standard therapy; however, in the future, there is potential that the drug could lessen or eliminate the need for chemo or radiation. "It would be great if instead of radiation, I could take a pill with some pleasant side effects," one cancer patient told Ivanhoe.

"This is a great treatment option because it's an incredibly safe drug -- one of the safest drugs around -- and to be honest, some patients really like the idea of being on tadalafil," said Dr. Califano.

The Cialis cancer trial is expected to continue for about the next year. Both men and women with head and neck cancers are eligible to participate. Patients who have had a recent heart attack or who are taking nitrates are not eligible for the trial.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Vanessa Wasta
Public Relations
Johns Hopkins Medicine
(410) 736-1397