Antidepressants May Fight Colorectal Cancer

Study finds lower incidence in people taking SSRI drugs

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

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MONDAY, March 27 (HealthDay News) -- A pioneering study supports a theory that a widely used class of antidepressant drugs can also fight cancers, such as colorectal cancer, Canadian researchers report.

The drugs, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), include such popular medications as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. The study was based on reports that serotonin, the body chemical linked to depression, also promotes the growth of cancer cells, said Dr. Jean-Paul Collet, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal.

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To test the validity of those reports, Collet and his colleagues turned to an existing database of Saskatchewan residents enrolled in a prescription drug plan. They found about a 30 percent lower incidence of colorectal cancer among people who took high doses of SSRIs, compared to those who did not take the drugs. No such reduction was found in people taking the older class of tricyclical antidepressants.

The results might apply to other cancers as well, Collet said, "but we chose colorectal cancer because the colon is rich in serotonin." And while the results are very preliminary, he said the study had the advantage of producing results in just six months.

"Now, even knowing the limitations of our study, it is a very strong piece of information to identify how to conduct future studies to validate the results," he said.

The results appear in the April issue of the journal Lancet Oncology.

The study drew a measured response from Dr. Henrik Toft Sorensen, professor of clinical epidemiology at Aarhus University in Denmark, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal.

"It is an interesting paper, but the study needs to be replicated by other groups," Sorensen said. "I can't rule out that the results might be due to bias."

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