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Antidepressants have been found out to possess compounds that are capable of blocking enzymes that promote cancer cells spreading into the bone of a patient. Reducing the spread of prostate cancer to the bone increases the chances of medication and survival of a patient.

The Medical News Today shared a new breakthrough performed by researchers at the Washington State University-Spokane on prostate cancer treatment. In a research lead by Jason Wu, experts discovered an enzyme that stimulates the spreading of prostate cancer to the bone. This enzyme, MAOA, can be blocked through the aid of antidepressants and can help prevent prostate cancer from spreading to the body.

Researchers from the study introduced human prostate cancer cells in laboratory mice to be able to analyze the activity of the protein MAOA, which is responsible for bone metastasis in prostate cancer. The team found out that the MAOA stimulates three other proteins that boost the function of the osteoclasts. Osteoclasts are the bone cells that plays a significant role in the degradations of the bone tissue during growth and healing, The Sun UK reports.

It was observed that instead of bone healing, the MAOA in the bone contributes more to the degradation of the bone. Having prostate cancer cells in the body adds up to the complications that these enzymes do to the bones of the mice used in the experiments. To counteract the effects, they have used an old antidepressant drug, clorgyline. The drug was found out to be capable of preventing prostate cancer from spreading to the bones by blocking the function of the MAOA enzyme.

There are 161,360 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the United States in 2017 and more than 26,000 of these men are expected to die, based on the data gathered by the American Cancer Society. This new discovery can help late-state prostate cancer patients that are also experiencing bone metastasis.

Prostate cancer comes second after skin cancer as the most common type of cancer in men in the United States. It is also the third most leading causes of death in the region. With this new discovery on how antidepressants can potentially prevent prostate cancer from spreading, 90 percent of the deaths involving bone metastasis can potentially decrease.