Could fluoxetine help fight neuroblastoma?
Scientists from Brunel University London have suggested that common
depression drug, Prozac (fluoxetine), could be repurposed as a neuroblastoma
therapy.
The researchers have suggested that the drug could be used to
tackle the deadly childhood tumor and possibly other types of cancer,
potentially sparing young patients' treatment with highly toxic cocktails of
chemotherapy drugs and radiation.
Prozac could allegedly serve as an effective anti-cancer treatment,
“but with less toxicity than current cancer treatments,” said Professor Arturo
Sala.
He continued, “Since Prozac targets MYC-expressing cancer cells, it
could possibly be used to treat a wide range of human cancers with high MYC
expression, for example big killers such as breast cancer or prostate cancer.”
The results, published in Oncogenesis, show that the drug can stabilize
a protein encoded by the gene CDKN1B that kills neuroblastoma cells and slows
their growth. More crucially, the doses needed are safe for children, which is
being hailed as “a major clinical advance”.
The idea to use Prozac to treat cancer allegedly came after
previous studies found people on long-term treatment for psychotic illnesses
have lower cancer rates.
Neuroblastoma is a rare cancer of the sympathetic nervous system
that occurs during early childhood and infancy. Although it only accounts for
7% of cancer diagnosis of children under 15 year, it is responsible for most pediatric
mortalities owing to solid tumors and is the commonest cancer diagnosed within
the first year of life.
Even with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the average
patient with high-risk metastatic disease lives less than three years. Relapse
is common, so finding a less toxic drug to prolong remission could be
“life-changing.”