"We decided to see if these proteasome inhibitors, including Velcade, were, like our antibiotics, targeting FoxM1," he said.

The researchers found that the proteasome inhibitors did inhibit FoxM1 and that they also caused cells to self-destruct in the same concentrations.

It's possible, Gartel suggested, that by using thiazole antibiotics in combination with well-known proteasome inhibitors, "we may see a synergy that allows us to markedly reduce the dose of any one of these drugs and still effectively kill the cancer cells."

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Uppoor G. Bhat, visiting assistant research professor in medicine, and Marianna Halasi, a graduate student in biochemistry and molecular biology, also contributed to the study.

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