A Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina business professional, Chris Manfuso works in the pharmaceutical industry. Chris Manfuso also works with Enovachem Pharmaceuticals, a firm that manufactures and sells medical products.
A Drug Topics article in Enovachem’s October 2021 newsletter found that certain antidepressants may slow cancer growth. Researchers at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and other drugs that decrease serotonin levels slow cancer growth in mice, in some cases, removing tumors. Doctors are not testing the drugs on humans.
This finding is important because cancer cells use serotonin to produce a molecule that prevents the immune system from preventing tumor growth. The molecule PD-L1 binds to killer T cells, immune cells that find and remove tumor cells. By binding to T cells, the tumorous cells can grow.
However, research shows that these antidepressants slowed the growth of pancreatic and colon cancers in mice. While there are treatments for people with pancreatic and colon cancers, tumor cells can become resistant to treatment over time.
