Breast Cancer Drug Beats Bipolar Disorder
Reported
September 12, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A drug more commonly associated with breast cancer treatment is holding out new promise for people suffering through the manic phase of bipolar disorder.
Researchers report tamoxifen (Nolvadex) effectively targets a key protein in the brain thought to go into overdrive when bipolar disorder turns from depression into mania. In a study involving 16 patients who received either tamoxifen or a placebo, 63 percent in the active treatment group saw a relief of their symptoms by the end of three weeks versus just 13 percent on the sham pill.
Tamoxifen also went to work quickly, with people on the drug showing signs of improvement by the fifth day of treatment. Current drugs used to treat bipolar mania usually take weeks to go into effect. Tamoxifen gets the job done sooner, report the investigators, because it directly inhibits a protein, known as protein kinase C, or PKC. Other drugs take a more roundabout approach.
So, will tamoxifen become the standard of care for people with bipolar disorder? The authors stop short of that conclusion, noting the drug blocks estrogen (which is why it’s used for breast cancer) and also raises the risk for endometrial cancer.
But the results seen in this study are expected to open the door to other new treatments that may be able to duplicate tamoxifen’s effects in the brain without causing those side effects. “Large controlled studies with selective PKC inhibitors in acute bipolar mania are warranted,” write the study authors.
Bipolar disorder affects nearly six million Americans, who suffer through severe mood swings ranging from the depths of depression to periods of mania in which they are prone to potentially harmful behaviors that can reel out of control and even end in hospitalization.
SOURCE: Bipolar Disorders, published online Sept. 12, 2007