Studies have shown that pimozide, used to treat Tourette’s syndrome, can inhibit the invasion of malignant brain tumors. It is noteworthy whether it will be a new clue in the treatment of brain tumors.
On the 16th, a joint research team of Prof. Jong-bae Park of the Department of Cancer Biomedical Science at the National Cancer Center, University of Cancer and Biomedical Science, and Joon-Hee Hong, assistant professor of industry-academia cooperation, and Dean Lee Seung-hoon of Eulji University, announced on the 16th that they have confirmed how to use drugs to regulate receptors that inhibit the invasion of malignant brain tumors.
The researchers found that the glycoprotein receptor Nogo receptor 1 (NgR1) regulates tumor cells that move along the cranial nerve circuit.
Pimozide affects the actions of USP1 (Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase1) and ID1 (Inhibitor of DNA binding protein1), the upper regulators of this NgR1.
USP1 helps the protein to function longer in the cell without being broken down. On the other hand, ID1 inhibits the expression of specific genes by binding to other transcription factors. Pimozide increases NgR1 expression by offsetting the action of these two factors.
In experiments with patient-derived brain tumor cell lines and in animal experiments, the research team confirmed that pimozide inhibited brain tumor invasion by regulating the expression of NgR1.
The research team predicted that using pimozide could treat brain tumors that were previously impossible to operate.
Professor Park said, “If an inhibitor with proven stability, like Pimozide discovered in this study, is applied in combination with the existing standard treatment, it is expected that it will contribute to improving the survival rate of patients with malignant brain tumors by continuously suppressing the invasion of the brain tumors to the cranial nerve circuits.” .
The results of this study were published in the latest issue of’BRAIN’, a world-renowned journal in the field of neurology.