Breakthrough for deadly brain cancer as experts find common pill can shrink tumours

It is one of the most feared forms of cancer; a fast-growing brain tumor that kills half of its victims within a year.

Now experts say they may have discovered an unlikely but accessible treatment for the brain tumor glioblastoma: a little-known antidepressant called vortioxetine.

Swiss scientists analyzed the effects of 130 different drugs on brain tumor tissue and found that vortioxetine was the most effective at destroying diseased cells.

Further research in mice with glioblastoma also showed that the drug slowed the growth of tumors and caused them to shrink. This effect was further enhanced when combined with chemotherapy.

Experts believe the pill is effective because, unlike other pills, it can cross the blood-brain barrier. That is, it bypasses the membrane that prevents substances from entering the brain.

Professor Michael Weller, co-author of the study and an expert in neuroscience at the University Hospital Zurich, said: ‘The advantage of vortioxetine is that it is safe and very cost-effective.

“Because the drug is already approved, it does not have to go through a complicated approval process and could soon complement standard therapy for this deadly brain tumor.”

However, he urged that patients should not take vortioxetine themselves without medical supervision.

“We don’t yet know if the drug works in humans and what dose is needed to fight the tumor. That’s why clinical trials are necessary,” he added.

In the study, researchers combined brain tumor tissue from 40 patients with 130 drugs, including drugs for Parkinson’s disease.

They then used a combination of scans and computer analysis to assess how effective the drugs were at breaking down cancer cells and preventing the rapid division that drives tumor development and growth.

They found that vortioxetine rapidly initiated chemical reactions that crossed the blood-brain barrier.

The drug, which costs around £40 for a pack of 28 tablets, was found to be the most effective of all antidepressants.

The cancer, which is diagnosed in around 3,000 Britons and 12,000 Americans each year, is still treated in the same way as it was in the early 2000s. It claimed the life of Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018

Two more studies in patients are now planned to see whether the drug enhances the tumor-shrinking effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Experts say that vortioxetine, if proven effective, would be the first drug in decades to improve the treatment of glioblastoma.

Dr Simon Newman, Chief Scientific Officer at The Brain Tumour Charity, who was not involved in the research, said of the findings: ‘Any scientific developments that bring us closer to new treatments for glioblastoma are very promising, as treatments have not changed for decades.

‘We urgently need kinder and more effective therapies for people who are faced with a diagnosis of glioblastoma. By using new technologies and repurposing existing drugs, we can achieve this goal.

‘Finding drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier is a particular challenge, so it is an exciting prospect to use drugs that we already know can do this.

“Translating these early findings to patients who need treatment most is the next step. We look forward to future studies with vortioxetine.”

Typical treatment plans for the “aggressive” cancer — which affects around 3,000 Britons and 12,000 Americans each year — see patients undergo surgery before chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This is still the way it was treated in the early 2000s.

Patients diagnosed with the condition usually undergo surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

You will then receive daily radiation and chemotherapy for about six weeks, after which the medication will be reduced.

Radiation can then be used to destroy extra tumor cells and treat those not good enough for surgery. But the cancer can double in size in just seven weeks.

The average survival time for glioblastoma is between 12 and 18 months, according to the Brain Tumour Charity. Only five percent of patients survive five years, it says.

The disease claimed the life of Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell in 2018, just a year after she was diagnosed.

In March 2022, Tom Parker, lead singer of The Wanted, also died 18 months after doctors diagnosed him with stage four glioblastoma.

Vortioxetine, also known as Brintellix, is an antidepressant used to treat major depression that does not respond to other more common treatments.

It works in a similar way to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), but it also uses other mechanisms to increase circulating serotonin – the brain hormone responsible for mood.