Taking antidepressants can help the body to combat cancer, has suggested a study.
Experts discovered that a kind of antidepressant was taken by millions of patients every year could help to reduce tumors by more than 50 percent.
Antidepressants are usually taken for mood disorders, because it is thought that the drug disrupts chemical serotonin – the ‘happiness hormone’ of the brain.
But the study tried to investigate whether this process could also influence other parts of the body, including the systems that help prevent tumors from developing.
The researchers who published their findings in the magazine Cell, were inspired after finding cells from some tumors had high levels of molecules that break down serotonin.
So they tried to investigate whether the use of an antidepressant called selective serotonin re -admission inhibitors (SSRIs), who block this process, can help the body kill tumors naturally.
They tested the drug in mice with cancer -like tumors, as well as human cancer cells in petri dishes.
They found that the SSRI treatment reduced the average tumor size by half by making the body-fighting proteins of the body more effective when killing mutated cells.
Antidepressants can help the body to combat cancer, has suggested an investigation
Dr. Lili Yang, from the University of California and senior author of the new study, said: ‘It turns out that SSRIs not only make our brains happier, they also make our T cells [the body’s fighter cells] Happy.
‘SSRIs increase the access from T cells to serotonin signals, so that they can be revived and kill cancer.’
Dr. Yang added that, since SSRIs have been used safely for years, ‘re -use’ for the treatment of cancer is much easier and faster than developing a new medicine.
The researchers also discovered that the drug also increased the effectiveness of existing cancer therapies.
They tested a combination of an SSRI and a treatment called Anti-PD-1 antibody in mice with cancer.
This antibody therapy works by blocking immune molecules that normally suppress immune cells, so that T cells can attack tumors more effectively.
By adding SSRIs, researchers significantly reduced the tumor size in all treated mice and in some cases they even reached full remission.
A clear limitation of the study that the authors acknowledge is that their findings are based on laboratory tests or animal experiments, not real patients.
However, the team is now planning a new research project where they will investigate real world data from cancer patients who take antidepressants.
They estimate that a fifth of the cancer patients also happened to be SSRIs who offer the opportunity to investigate if they have a better result than patients who do not use the medicine.
It is thought that people with depression have low levels of serotonin, although there is a scientific debate about this and Ssris fights this by stimulating these levels.
Although the study suggested that SSRIs could ever be used to treat cancer that others have linked their long -term use to health problems.
Some experts suspect that the medicines could release too much serotonin, with negative consequences for people’s health.
Previous studies have linked their use to health problems, including heart problems in young people in addition to long -term and even permanent sexual dysfunction.
Health services show that antidepressants are one of the most taken medicines in the UK.
Official data suggest that 8.7 million people in England prescribed the medication – about 15 percent of the total population.
In the US, one in eight people currently takes an antidepressant, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
According to Macmillan Cancer Support, more than 400,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in the UK every year.
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