Antidepressant could be used to treat brain tumours, scientists suggest

A common antidepressant is “unexpectedly effective” against aggressive brain tumours, scientists have found.

Vortioxetine is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) for adults who have major depressive episodes.

Laboratory tests on cancer cells have shown it can also fight against glioblastomas – the most common and fast-growing type of brain tumour, the researchers said.

Swiss scientists from University Hospital, Zurich, are looking to recruit patients as part of a clinical trial where they will be given vortioxetine alongside standard treatment.

Prof Michael Weller, the director of the department of neurology, said: “The advantage of vortioxetine is that it is safe and very cost-effective.

“As the drug has already been approved, it doesn’t have to undergo a complex approval procedure and could soon supplement the standard therapy for this deadly brain tumour.”

Penetrate the blood-brain barrier

Glioblastomas are particularly aggressive and are often diagnosed late. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is currently between 12 and 18 months.

Dame Tessa Jowell, the former Labour MP and culture secretary, Theo Burrell, an expert on Antiques Roadshow, and Tom Parker, a member of boy band The Wanted, are among those to have died from glioblastoma.

About 3,200 people each year are diagnosed with the brain tumour in Britain and drugs that are effective against it are hard to find.

Most cancer drugs cannot cross a toxin-preventing membrane, known as the blood-brain barrier, to reach the tumour.

For the study, researchers tested hundreds of existing medicines that are able to cross this barrier, such as antidepressants and Parkinson’s medication.

Vortioxetine, which costs about £40 for a pack of 28 tablets, proved to be the most effective of all the antidepressants that were tested, the researchers said.

Tests on mice also showed vortioxetine had “good efficacy”, especially in combination with standard treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

‘Self-medicating an incalculable risk’

Academics are advising against patients trying the drug for themselves without medical supervision.

Prof Weller said: “We don’t yet know whether the drug works in humans and what dose is required to combat the tumour, which is why clinical trials are necessary. Self-medicating would be an incalculable risk.”

Commenting on the study, Dr Simon Newman, the chief scientific officer at The Brain Tumour Charity, who was not involved, said: “Any scientific developments that bring us closer to new treatments for glioblastoma are promising, as treatments haven’t changed in decades.

“We urgently need kinder and more effective therapies for people facing a glioblastoma diagnosis, so using new technologies and repurposing existing drugs may help achieve this.”

He added: “Finding drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier is a particular challenge, so using drugs that we already know can do this is an exciting prospect.

“Translation of these early findings to patients most in need is the next step, and we look forward to following future studies using vortioxetine.”

The findings were published in the journal Nature.