Ketamine could offer hope in the fight against cancer, scientists believe.
Promising laboratory tests showed that the horse tranquilizer and party drug can kill tumor cells.
Experts believe it could block a receptor that promotes tumor growth.
Although the effect has not been demonstrated in humans, the team at Imperial College London hopes that similar results could be seen in further laboratory studies and in patients.
However, in-depth studies involving thousands of cancer patients would be required before ketamine is ever introduced as a treatment, meaning any development is still years away at best.
Researchers believe they have found the answer to finally weakening the disease, which causes just over a quarter of all deaths in England in an average year
Laboratory tests suggested that ketamine “caused cancer cell death” in both brain and lung cancer cells.
Ketamine is only licensed as an anesthetic in the UK, but can also be prescribed unlicensed as a painkiller.
These versions are medical grade and proven to be safe.
However, they can still cause hallucinations, just like the version sold on the street for just £3 each.
Anyone caught in possession of the Class B drug faces a five-year prison sentence and an unlimited fine.
Currently, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the most commonly used cancer treatments.
But researchers around the world are looking for other treatments to improve care and survival rates. Up to half of people are expected to develop this disease during their lifetime.
What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is an approved anesthetic. It has been used since 1970.
Side effects:
- Vivid dreams
- nightmares
- Mood swings
- Hallucinations
- feel restless
These symptoms can often be relieved with the addition of other medications, allowing you to continue taking ketamine without experiencing these side effects.
High blood pressure and rapid pulse. The doctor will monitor your blood pressure and pulse rate at the start of treatment and then as needed.
Source: NHS
The latest study was conducted by scientists from Imperial College London, Hirosaki University and Nippon Medical School in Japan, as well as China's National Clinical Research Center for Child Health.
They said ketamine's effects on cancer cells were unclear, so they tested whether the drug could slow their growth and production.
As part of a laboratory experiment, they exposed human lung and brain cancer cells – which had been removed from the body and grown in a humidified incubator – to varying concentrations of ketamine, while some were not exposed to the drug at all to act as a control.
The researchers photographed the samples and analyzed them with lasers before they were exposed to the drug and 24 hours later.
The results, published in the European Journal of Pharmacology, showed that cancer growth and spread was suppressed in cells exposed to ketamine – with the greatest effect seen in cells exposed to the highest dose.
This means that the activity of the cancer cells is significantly reduced and less aggressive, the researchers said.
The results also showed that there was a significant increase in cell number during late apoptosis – when tumors self-destruct.
Researchers believe the drug works by blocking a receptor called N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), which regulates tumor size, spread and severity of the cancer.
The team noted that the study used “relatively high” concentrations of ketamine.
And the results don't necessarily mean the drug would work the same way in patients, they said.
It came after Friends star Matthew Perry died from the “acute effects” of ketamine in October.
He was found in his hot tub with similar levels of the drug in his system as a hospital patient under general anesthesia.
A year before his death, he published a tell-all memoir that included shocking details of his drug and alcohol addictions.
But he said in October 2022 that he was 18 months sober, although that was a year before his death.
Ketamine, also known as Special K, Ket or Kit Kat, was popular as a party drug in the late 1990s, when it was commonly taken at late-night raves.
But its popularity waned in the 2000s when it became a Schedule III drug and concerns were raised about side effects such as hallucinations and, in rare cases, seizures.
However, the drug is now making a comeback, and polls suggest it is re-entering the party scene.
Earlier this year it was dubbed Britain's “campus killer” when it was revealed that it had caused 41 student deaths since 1999, according to the National Program on Substance Abuse Deaths.
In 2021 alone, seven British students died, for which the latest date data is available.