A new research has revealed that anti-psychotic drugs could help treat some major cancers.
According to a preliminary finding in the current online issue of the International Journal of Cancer, the anti-psychotic drug, pimozide, kills lung, breast and brain cancer cells in in-vitro laboratory experiments.
Anti-psychotic Drugs Can Fight Major Cancers too
Anti-psychotic drugs can fight major cancers too, Australian research seems to show.
Advertisement
In the new study, pimozide was the most lethal of six anti-psychotic drugs tested by a team from UNSW and the University of Queensland. Rapidly-dividing cancer cells require cholesterol and lipids to grow and the researchers suspect that pimozide kills cancer cells by blocking the synthesis or movement of cholesterol and lipid in cancer cells.
Analysis of gene expression in test cancer cells showed that genes involved in the synthesis and uptake of cholesterol and lipids were boosted when pimozide was introduced.
![Long-Term Treatment With Antipsychotic Drugs Associated With Lower Mortality Among Schizophrenics]( "Long-Term Treatment With Antipsychotic Drugs Associated With Lower Mortality Among Schizophrenics")
Thousands of extra deaths among schizophrenics worldwide may have resulted due to the authorities' restrictions on the use of antipsychotic drug clozapine over safety concerns, says research.
To test the idea that pimozide acts by disrupting cholesterol homeostasis, the researchers combined pimozide with mevastatin, a drug that inhibits cholesterol production in cells. The two drugs were more lethal in combination against cancer cells than when either drug was used alone.
"The combination of pimozide and mevastatin increased cancer cell death," says UNSW researcher Dr Louise Lutze-Mann, a co-author of the study.
"We needed a lower dose of each drug to kill the same amount of cells," the expert added.
Although side-effects are associated with the use of high doses of these drugs - such as tremors, muscle spasms and slurred speech - these effects are considered to be tolerable in patients where other treatments have failed and the drugs will only be used short-term. These side-effects would be reduced if the drugs were used in combination with a lipid-lowering drug, such as mevastatin.
The researchers have also investigated the effects of olazapine , a "second-generation" antipsychotic drug, and found that it also kills cancer cells but has a better side-effect profile.
When administered to patients, it accumulates in the lung, which suggests that it may prove to be most useful in treating lung cancer.
Source: ANI
ARU
Long-Term Treatment With Antipsychotic Drugs Associated With Lower Mortality Among Schizophrenics
Thousands of extra deaths among schizophrenics worldwide may have resulted due to the authorities' restrictions on the use of antipsychotic drug clozapine over safety concerns, says research.
Advertisement
To test the idea that pimozide acts by disrupting cholesterol homeostasis, the researchers combined pimozide with mevastatin, a drug that inhibits cholesterol production in cells. The two drugs were more lethal in combination against cancer cells than when either drug was used alone.
"The combination of pimozide and mevastatin increased cancer cell death," says UNSW researcher Dr Louise Lutze-Mann, a co-author of the study.
"We needed a lower dose of each drug to kill the same amount of cells," the expert added.
Although side-effects are associated with the use of high doses of these drugs - such as tremors, muscle spasms and slurred speech - these effects are considered to be tolerable in patients where other treatments have failed and the drugs will only be used short-term. These side-effects would be reduced if the drugs were used in combination with a lipid-lowering drug, such as mevastatin.
The researchers have also investigated the effects of olazapine , a "second-generation" antipsychotic drug, and found that it also kills cancer cells but has a better side-effect profile.
When administered to patients, it accumulates in the lung, which suggests that it may prove to be most useful in treating lung cancer.
Source: ANI
ARU
Antipsychotic Drugs Pose High Risk for Elderly With Diabetes
Older patients with diabetes who take antipsychotic medications appear to have an increased risk of hospitalization for hyperglycemia (elevated blood glucose level), especially soon
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Readings
Latest Drug News
The CDSCO has approved the intravenous administration of AstraZeneca Pharma India's liver cancer drug, Tremelimumab Concentrate.
The FDA advises consumers not to use compounded medications as an alternative to known diabetic and weight reduction medications Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy.
Addressing the unmet needs of Parkinson's Disease by providing disease-modifying therapies could bring about a major shift in the way that patients are treated.
Microrobots could swirl through a person's blood stream, search for targeted areas to treat for various ailments.
Supplementation with multivitamins is an inexpensive way for older adults to slow down memory loss.