It has been observe that people order antidepressants curiously have a humiliated incidence of one of the most common , and most fast-growing , types of head tumor . Glioblastomas report for around15%of all elementary Einstein neoplasm , and the survival pace is not safe , often measuredin monthsrather than geezerhood . Butnew researchhas shown that by combining a specific type of antidepressant drug with another drug , this meter a roue thinner , it is possible to slack the progression of glioblastoma in mice .
“ We were interested in exploring clinically approved drug , ” Douglas Hanahan , who led the study published inCancer Cells , told IFLScience , “ so if we find anything interesting we can potentially incentivize clinical evaluation , and in a reasonable period of metre . Because the sentence line from new drug to clinical commendation can take a 10 or more . ”
They decided to focus on the “ cellular recycling system ” of cells , which is known asautophagy(literally “ self - eat ” ) . This is where stressed cells recycle some of their cellular components for survive in condition of , for example , nutrient limitation . Autophagy can be beneficial to a cell , but only in low stratum .
They find that a specific type of antidepressant drug , shout tricyclic antidepressants , increased autophagy in glioblastoma tumors . But when test in black eye , it only demonstrated modified effects .
spur on by this anyway , they determine to screen other clinical drugs and came across a blood thinner that also pretend this recycling system . Separately , both these drugs increased this process a little , but not enough to cause equipment casualty . Together , however , they seemed to agitate the cells over a threshold , effectively wee-wee the tumor cells eat themselves to dying .
“ Both drugs were act on an intracellular pathway that regulates the autophagy , ” explained Hanahan . “ They affect a signalling particle called cyclic AMP , and both of these drugs were working together to increase the output of cyclical AMP , which in turn increased the pace of autophagy . The datum suggests that this pace of autophagy went over a brink of viability . ”
Even though the combining of drugs encouraged some tumor cells to eat themselves , the therapy was n’t capable to cure the cancer because tumors are n’t homogenous , or the same throughout . alternatively , the drug slowed the tumor ’s progression and modestly expanded the lifespan of the mouse .
What ’s exciting about this enquiry is that both these drugs are relatively cheap , and already clinically proven . There are even some written report of people taking both medications at the same time , implying that they can work together without side issue , though Hanahan go for that this research will further right clinical run in man .
Edit made on 2025-02-01 . The original piecie had quoted Hanahan as talking about cyclic ANP , or atrial natriuretic peptide , which is actually inloved in the command of body water and descent pressure . It should have read cycylic AMP , or adenosine monophosphate , which is inloved with intracellular signal transduction .
