Many people use a group of medicines called benzodiazepines to help reduce anxiety or improve sleep.
These drugs are widely prescribed and are known for their calming effects. For people dealing with serious illnesses like cancer, they can provide important relief from stress, fear, and insomnia.
Cancer is not only a physical disease but also an emotional one. Patients often face worry, pain, and uncertainty about the future.
Because of this, doctors sometimes prescribe medications like benzodiazepines to help patients feel more comfortable during treatment. However, new research suggests that some of these drugs may have unexpected effects on cancer itself.
A study led by Dr. Michael Feigin at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has explored how certain benzodiazepines might influence pancreatic cancer.
This type of cancer is one of the most difficult to treat. It is often diagnosed at a late stage, when the disease has already spread. As a result, survival rates are low, and even small improvements in care can make a meaningful difference.
The research team focused on two commonly used drugs in this class: lorazepam, often known by the brand name Ativan, and alprazolam, commonly called Xanax. Both are used to treat anxiety and sleep problems, but the scientists wanted to find out whether they might affect how pancreatic cancer develops.
To investigate this, the researchers looked at patient data and also carried out laboratory studies. They found that the effects of these two drugs were quite different. Patients who took lorazepam appeared to have faster cancer growth and spread. In contrast, those who took alprazolam showed slower cancer progression.
This difference was surprising because both drugs belong to the same general group and are often used in similar ways. The findings raised important questions about how these medicines might interact with cancer cells.
The study also showed that benzodiazepines are very common among cancer patients. At the hospital involved in the research, about one in three cancer patients had been prescribed these drugs.
Among patients with pancreatic cancer, the number was even higher, reaching around 40 percent. This highlights how important it is to understand the full effects of these medications.
To explore the reasons behind these findings, researcher Abigail Cornwell examined how the drugs work at a biological level. She discovered that lorazepam may activate a protein called GPR68. This protein can increase inflammation inside tumors. Inflammation is known to help cancer grow and spread, making the disease harder to treat.
On the other hand, alprazolam did not activate this protein. Instead, it appeared to reduce levels of another substance linked to inflammation, known as interleukin-6. Lower levels of this substance may help slow down cancer growth, which could explain the different outcomes seen in patients.
Although these results are important, the researchers caution that more work is needed before any firm conclusions can be made. Some parts of the study were carried out in mice, and the conditions in laboratory experiments do not always match what happens in the human body.
In addition, patients in the study may have taken different doses of the drugs, which can also affect results.
Because of these limitations, doctors are not changing their treatment practices yet. Benzodiazepines still play an important role in helping cancer patients manage anxiety and sleep problems. However, this research suggests that doctors may need to think more carefully about which specific drugs they prescribe in the future.
Dr. Feigin and his team are planning further studies, including clinical trials with patients, to better understand these effects. The goal is to find safer and more effective ways to support cancer patients, both physically and emotionally.
This study is a reminder that even well-known and commonly used medicines can have unexpected effects.
As science continues to learn more, doctors may be able to tailor treatments more carefully to each patient’s needs. In the future, this could lead to more personalized care and better outcomes for people facing serious diseases like pancreatic cancer.
The findings of this research highlight the importance of looking at every part of a patient’s treatment, including medicines that are not directly used to fight cancer. By understanding these connections, scientists hope to improve both the quality of life and survival of cancer patients.
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