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Viagra may cure more than problems in the bedroom, according to a new study.

New research reveals evidence that erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra or Cialis are therapeutic and can kill cancer and bacteria.

Researchers explained that current erectile dysfunction drugs significantly reduce the activity of chaperone proteins, which are essential in protein folding and in bacteria. Researchers said the latest findings suggest that Viagra, Cialis and a derivative of the drug Celebrex can be used to counter the effects of cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

American researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond discovered that an experimental compound derived from the drug celecoxib (Celebrex) interacts with Viagra or Cialis to signficantly reduce levels of chaperone proteins. This is important because reduced levels of chaperone proteins like HSPA5 and Dna K can interfere with virus replication, promote bacterial cell death, and reverse drug-resistant superbugs.

"Drugs like Celebrex and Viagra are readily available and generally recognized as safe. This study by Booth and colleagues may lead to new applications of these relatively new medicines," Carol Shoshkes Reiss, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, of DNA and Cell Biology and Professor, Departments of Biology and Neural Science, New York University, NY, said in a news release. "The potential impact, if the experiments described are translatable to human disease, could be paradigm-shifting. The potential applications are serious antibiotic resistant infections, chemotherapy-resistant cancers, and neurodegenerative disease ranging from Parkinson's disease to Huntington's or Alzheimer's disease."

The latest article "HSPA5/Dna K May Be a Useful Target for Human Disease Therapies," will be published April 9th in the journal DNA and Cell Biology.