Repurposed Antidepressants: Treatment for Small-cell Lung Cancer?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A bioinformatics approach to repurposing drugs resulted in the discovery of a class of antidepressants as a potential new treatment for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to recent research.
Based on data generated using bioinformatics, two drugs approved by the FDA to treat symptoms of depression were tested on SCLC cells and animal models. Both antidepressants were found to induce SCLC cell death.
“Unlike most targeted therapies, which are often specific for a single molecule or pathway, the drugs we identified target multiple receptors at the surface of neuroendocrine cancer cells, which may make it difficult for cancer cells to develop resistance,” Julien Sage, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, was quoted as saying.
Small-cell lung cancer is a subtype of lung cancer that does not have a treatment plan. This deadly disease has not been treated in decades but now, researchers say this could change.
Because this study was so successful, researchers hope to find similar results in other neuroendocrine cancers.
For more information, go to: http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=3162
SOURCE: Cancer Discovery, September 2013