New Delhi, 22 May (IANS). Researchers in the US have identified an antidepressant used to treat depression, which can help in the treatment of cancer. This can help shorten cancer tumors (lumps) and to fight cancer of the body’s immunity. This can benefit patients.
Selective serotonin retik inhibitors (SSRIs), medications are usually given to cure depression and stress. These medicines affect our brain and improve the mood. Now researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have found that these drugs affect not only the brain but also our immune system. In particular, these make T cells more powerful, allowing them to eliminate cancer cells better.
In a study published in the journal cell, researchers tested SSRI on mice and humans tumor models. He performed these tests on melanoma, breast, prostate, colon and bladder cancer. As a result, it was observed that these drugs help the immune system to fight these cancers and prevent tumors from growing.
They found that when SSRI medicines were given to cancer patients, the size of the tumor decreased by more than 50 percent. And the body’s T cells became even stronger and effective. This drug of depression is not only shortening the tumor, but is also making the body’s defense system so powerful that it can fight cancer herself well.
Dr. Lily Yang, senior writer and member of Elie and Edith Broad Center of Regimental Medicine and Stem Sale Research in UCLA, said, “SSRI medicines not only make our brain happy, but it also makes our T cells strong. will be.”
Yang and his team began to find a relationship with Serotonin with cancer when they found out that the immune cells extracted from the tumor contained a large amount of elements to control serotonin.
Initially, Dr. Yang and his team focused on an enzyme called MAO-A, which eliminates chemicals such as serotonin, dopamins, and norpinephrine in our body. These chemicals help to control our brain and mood.
Although drugs preventing MAO-A were also researched, they have serious side effects. So the researchers decided that they would focus their attention on another molecule called SERT, which controls the level of serotonin in the body.
Dr. Bo Lee, the scientist in Yang’s research team, said, “MAO-A eliminates many types of chemicals, but SERT is just one task-to move serotonin from one place to another.”
Dr. Bo Lee said, “It was especially attractive to pay attention to SERT because the medicines used for it, ie SSRI, they are already being used a lot and their side effects are very few.”
Researchers said that “the mixture of SSRI and cancer drugs reduced the size of the tumor to a great extent and in some cases even then the tumor was completely finished.”
To confirm these results, the team will find out whether SSRIs are given to real -world cancer patients, whether their treatment is benefited or not.
-IANS
PK/AS
