New Use for Old Drugs: The Protective Effect of Risperidone on Colorectal Cancer

<i>Background:</i> The potential of old drugs in novel indications is being greatly valued. We propose a triple-model study involving population-based, cell, and animal studies to investigate the effects of risperidone, a type of second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) drug, on colorectal...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vincent Chin-Hung Chen, Yi-Hsuan Hsieh, Tzu-Chin Lin, Mong-Liang Lu, Yin-To Liao, Yao-Hsu Yang, Tsai-Ching Hsu, Robert Stewart, Jun-Cheng Weng, Min-Jing Lee, Wei-Che Chiu, Bor-Show Tzang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
Series:Cancers
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/6/1560
Description
Summary:<i>Background:</i> The potential of old drugs in novel indications is being greatly valued. We propose a triple-model study involving population-based, cell, and animal studies to investigate the effects of risperidone, a type of second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) drug, on colorectal cancer. <i>Methods:</i> We used data from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database between 1997 and 2013 to compare 101,989 patients with colorectal cancer and 101,989 controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to explore the association between SGA exposure and the risk of colorectal cancer. The following bench studies were performed to evaluate the findings of the population-based study. <i>Results:</i> We found that SGAs had been less commonly used in colorectal cancer patients than in controls. The colorectal cancer risk was reduced with an increase in the cumulative defined daily dose (cDDD) of SGAs. The adjusted odds ratio of antipsychotic use for cDDD days was 0.32 (95% CI: 0.25–0.42). Risperidone exhibited the most prominent tumor inhibition effect in a cell screen study. Bench data revealed that risperidone significantly induced apoptosis and elevated intracellular ROS in human SW480 cells and suppressed the proliferation of the xenografted SW480 tumor in nude mice. Conclusion: This triple-model study demonstrates the association between risperidone usage and a lower risk of colorectal cancer.
ISSN:2072-6694