Ketamine might have power to kill cancer 

Ketamine could offer hope in the fight against cancer, scientists think.

Promising laboratory tests showed that the horse tranquilizer and party drug could kill tumor cells.

Experts think it could block a receptor that encourages tumors to grow.

Although it has not been proven to work in humans, the team at Imperial College London hope that similar results can be seen in further laboratory studies and in patients.

However, in-depth studies involving thousands of cancer patients are needed before ketamine is ever rolled out as a treatment, meaning any development is years away at best.

Laboratory tests suggested that ketamine 'induced cancer cell death' in both brain and lung cancer cells

Ketamine is only permitted as an anesthetic in Britain, but can also be prescribed off-licence as a painkiller.

These versions are medical grade and proven safe.

However, they can still cause hallucinations, just like the version sold on the street for just £3 each.

Anyone caught in possession of the Class B drug faces a prison sentence of five years and an unlimited fine.

Currently, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most commonly used cancer treatments.

But researchers around the world are looking for other treatments in an effort to improve care and survival rates, with up to half of people expected to develop the disease during their lifetime.

The latest study was conducted by scientists from Imperial College London, Hirosaki University and Nippon Medical School in Japan and the Chinese National Clinical Research Center for Child Health.

They said ketamine's effects on cancer cells were unclear, so they tested whether the drug could slow their growth and production.

As part of a laboratory experiment, they exposed human lung and brain cancer cells – which had been removed from the body and grown in a humidified incubator – to different concentrations of ketamine, while some were not exposed to the drug at all to serve as effect. a check.

The researchers photographed the samples and used lasers to analyze them before exposing them to the drug and 24 hours later.

The findings, published in the European Journal of PharmacologyResearch found that cancer growth and spread was suppressed in cells exposed to ketamine – with the greatest effect seen on cells exposed to the highest dose.

This means that the activity of the cancer cells was significantly reduced and less aggressive, the researchers said.

The results also showed that there was a significant increase in the number of cells during late apoptosis – when tumors destroy themselves.

The researchers believe the drug worked by blocking a receptor – called n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) – that regulates tumor size, spread and severity of the cancer.

The team noted that they used “relatively high” concentrations of ketamine in the study.

And the findings don't necessarily mean the drug would work the same way in patients, they said.

It comes after Friends star Matthew Perry died in October due to the 'acute effects' of ketamine.

He was found in his hot tub with similar amounts of the drug in his system as a hospital patient under general anesthesia.

A year before his death, he released a tell-all memoir with shocking details about his drug and alcohol addiction.

But he said in October 2022 that he had been sober for 18 months, although that was a year before his death.

Ketamine, also known as Special K, Ket or Kit Kat, was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was often taken at late-night raves.

But its popularity declined in the 2000s when it became a Schedule III drug and concerns arose about side effects, including hallucinations and, in rare cases, seizures.

However, the drug is now making a comeback, and studies show it is trickling back into the party scene.

It was dubbed Britain's 'campus killer' earlier this year when it was revealed that it had caused 41 student deaths since 1999, according to the National Program on Substance Abuse Deaths.

Seven British students died in 2021 alone, for which the most recent date data is available.