A new study led by Dr. Michael Feigin at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that some medications used to treat anxiety and sleep problems might affect how well cancer patients respond to treatment—especially those with pancreatic cancer.
These drugs are called benzodiazepines. They are often given to cancer patients to help with anxiety, insomnia, or stress. Two common ones are lorazepam (brand name Ativan) and alprazolam (brand name Xanax). These drugs are usually safe for short-term use.
But this new research shows that not all benzodiazepines have the same effects in cancer patients. Some might even make things worse.
Dr. Feigin’s team found that pancreatic cancer patients who took lorazepam had faster cancer growth and shorter survival. On the other hand, those who took alprazolam lived longer without their cancer getting worse. This time without worsening is called “progression-free survival.”
The researchers looked at medical records from over 3,000 cancer patients. They found that more than 40% of pancreatic cancer patients had been prescribed benzodiazepines—the highest rate among all cancer types in the study. They also found that lorazepam was linked to worse outcomes in other cancers too, not just pancreatic cancer.
Why is this happening? To understand it, the scientists studied how the drugs affect the body at the molecular level. They found that lorazepam turns on a protein called GPR68. This protein increases inflammation in tumors.
Inflammation is something that can help cancer grow and spread. In lab tests with mice, lorazepam made the tumors worse by changing the tumor environment.
In contrast, alprazolam did not turn on this inflammation pathway. In fact, it lowered the amount of a harmful molecule called IL-6, which is known to help cancer grow.
It’s important to note that the study has some limits. Mice and humans don’t always react the same way to drugs. Also, patients receive different doses depending on their condition. And some lab tests used artificial tumors implanted under the skin in mice, which may not act the same as real tumors growing naturally.
Still, the study is important. It may change the way doctors treat anxiety in people with cancer. Dr. Feigin said that patients should not stop taking lorazepam right now, but more research is needed. A clinical trial is already being planned to look at these effects in more detail.
For now, this research shows that doctors should think carefully about which anti-anxiety drugs to give cancer patients—especially those with aggressive cancers like pancreatic cancer. The study opens the door to more personalized treatment, where doctors choose even common medications based on how they might affect cancer.
In the future, these findings could lead to new guidelines that help patients feel better without affecting their cancer treatment. The full study was published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that artificial sweeteners are linked to higher cancer risk, and how drinking milk affects risks of heart disease and cancer.
For more health information, please see recent studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and results showing vitamin D supplements strongly reduces cancer death.
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