A study from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, published in the scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), has confirmed a significant finding: two analgesic drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – Bupivacaine (for nerve pain) and Rimegepant (for migraines) – slow the growth of osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumor.
Osteosarcoma is a rare but aggressive type of cancer that most commonly affects adolescents and young adults. It is frequently associated with severe pain, which is caused by the penetration of peripheral afferent neurons into the tumor. The study’s authors demonstrated in a mouse model that these medications not only alleviate tumor-associated pain but also inhibit the cancer’s uncontrolled growth.
The researchers suggest that the drugs’ anti-tumor effect is due to their influence on neuron-to-tumor signaling between the proteins CGRP, TrkA, and NGF. By inhibiting these proteins, the medications effectively halt two vital processes within the tumor: innervation (the sprouting of new nerve tissue) and angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels).
This is critically important because the tumor uses both of these networks for survival and growth: nerves promote its growth, while blood vessels supply the tumor with oxygen and nutrients, thus ensuring its uncontrolled proliferation and metastasis.
Additionally, inhibiting TrkA activity also reduces tumor-associated macrophages, which prevents tumor progression and resistance to chemotherapy.
This discovery creates the prospect that already existing medications may be repurposed as anti-tumor agents for osteosarcoma treatment in the future.
