It is difficult to find effective drugs against brain tumors, since many of them cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain. This limits the choice of possible treatments. That’s why, neurooncologists They have been searching intensively for some time for better drugs that can reach the brain and eliminate the tumor.
However, a group of researchers from the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich (Switzerland) has published a study in the prestigious magazine Nature Medicine in which it demonstrates that an antidepressant called vortioxetine is capable of effectively combating glioblastomaa particularly aggressive brain tumor that is incurable.
Currently, oncologists can extend life expectancy of patients with glioblastoma through operations, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgical interventions. However, half of patients die within twelve months of diagnosis.
This new research opens the door to new treatments and as Michael Weller, professor at the University Hospital of Zurich and director of the Department of Neurology and co-author of the study, has pointed out, “the advantage of vortioxetine is that it is safe and very cost-effective. “As the drug has already been approved, it does not have to undergo a complex authorization procedure and could soon complement standard therapy for this deadly brain tumor.”
Crosses the blood-brain barrier
Scientists know that this cheap drug, which has already been approved by bodies such as the US FDA and Swissmedic, is capable of passing through the blood-brain barrier.
Sohyon Lee, Snijder postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, discovered this using pharmacoscopy, a special detection platform that researchers have developed at ETH Zurich over the past few years. In this study, Researchers at ETH Zurich collaborated closely with colleagues from several hospitalsin particular with the group of neurologists Michael Weller and Tobias Weiss from the University Hospital of Zurich (USZ).
On the other hand, to determine what substances had an effect on cancer cellsthe researchers they used imaging techniques and computer analysis. Previously, Snijder and his team had only used the pharmacoscopy to analyze blood cancer and derive treatment options. Glioblastomas are the first solid tumors that have been systematically investigated with this method with a view to using existing drugs for new purposes.
For screening, Lee analyzed fresh cancerous tissue from patients who had recently undergone surgery at Zurich University Hospital. Researchers at ETH Zurich then processed this tissue in the laboratory and examined it on the pharmacoscopic platform. Two days later, the researchers obtained results showing which agents acted on cancer cells and which are not.
Effective antidepressants
The results showed that Some, but not all, of the antidepressants tested turned out unexpectedly effective against tumor cells. These drugs worked especially well when they rapidly activated a signaling cascade that is important for neural progenitor cells but also suppresses cell division. Vortioxetine was found to be the most effective antidepressant.
Researchers at ETH Zurich They also used a computer model to verify the effectiveness of more than a million substances against glioblastomas. They discovered that the joint signaling cascade of neurons and cancer cells plays a decisive role and explains why some neuroactive drugs work and others do not.
In the last stepresearchers at Zurich University Hospital tested vortioxetine in mice with glioblastoma. The drug also showed good efficacy in these trialsespecially in combination with current standard treatment.
The group of researchers from ETH Zurich and USZ is now preparing two clinical trials. In one, patients with glioblastoma will be treated with vortioxetine in addition to standard treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). In the other, patients will receive personalized drug selection, which researchers will determine for each individual using the pharmacoscopic platform.
