According to a paper published in Nature Medicine, an antidepressant could be an excellent future treatment for some cancers. The antidepressant, tranylcypromine (TCP), is a retinoid. Another retinoid, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A-derivative, has been used to transform outcomes in rare sub-type of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from fatal to curable. This success has inspired researchers to find treatments in similar retinoids for other subtypes of AML.
ATRA works because it encourages AML cells to mature and die as they're supposed to. Collaborating researchers from England, Northern Ireland, the United States, Canada and Germany concluded that other subtypes don't respond to ATRA because of a molecular blockage, meaning that the genes targeted by ATRA have been turned off. So they sought a way to prevent them from being turned off, and that way, they believe, is an enzyme called LSD1 that uses TCP.
A Phase II clinical trial of this drug combination in acute myeloid leukemia patients has already begun in Germany, and the good news is that both medications are off-patent and if successful the combination shouldn't be expensive.
Source: EurekAlert
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