Medication against schizophrenia inhibits pancreatic cancer

A receptor for the dopamine neurotransmitter promotes growth and spread of pancreatic cancer -- and schizophrenia drugs, which block the function of this receptor, slowed tumor growth and metastatic spread in mice, according to researchers at McGill University and the German Cancer Research Center.

Cancer of the pancreas is an extremely aggressive disease with a dismal prognosis. “While the overall five-year survival rate of all cancer patients stands at 63%, it is only about 5% for pancreatic cancer – a number that has remained largely unchanged for the last three decades,” notes Yasser Riazalhosseini, professor of Human Genetics at McGill and corresponding author of the new study, published in the journal Gastroenterology.