Is mirtazapine and fluoxetine helpful in treating pancreatic cancer?

The treatment of pancreatic cancer remains a great challenge. The majority of patients with pancreatic cancer developed major depression. Antidepressant treatment has been accepted as one of the new strategies in cancer adjuvant therapy. However, systemic studies on the treatment of depression in patient with cancer have not been well documented. A research article to be published on July 21, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Dr. Jia Lin evaluated the effectiveness of mirtazapine and fluoxetine on body weight, ingestive behavior, locomotor activity and tumor growth in a pancreatic cancer mouse model in the six-week period trial.

In this study, the researchers observed that mirtazapine had the effectiveness of increasing appetite, partly reversed the rate of weight loss. In addition, the potential effectiveness of weight gain associated with an increase in food intake. However, fluoxetine produced a significant suppression of food intake and promoted weight loss. These effects lasted a long-term. Mirtazapine and fluoxetine didn't affect the pancreatic tumor growth. Mirtazapine had more quickly efficacy on the adaptability to new environment than fluoxetine.

Source: World Journal of Gastroenterology