Penn medicine doctors and graduate student discover that lidocaine can kill cancer cells, and are encouraged at the possibility of a new cancer treatment option. This discovery was made after conducting a study which suggested that this numbing agent commonly used in surgeries could potentially be a life-saving drug.
"Speaking as a head and neck surgeon, we use lidocaine all the time. We know lidocaine is safe, we’re comfortable using it, and it’s readily available, which means it could be incorporated into other aspects of head and neck cancer care fairly seamlessly. While we’re not suggesting the lidocaine could cure cancer, we’re galvanized by the possibility that it could get an edge on head and neck cancer treatment and move the dial forward, in terms of improving treatment options for patients with this challenging form of cancer.", said Ryan Carey.
Understanding how this discovery came to light is essential. Lidocaine is a numbing agent commonly used to decrease pain in a variety of surgeries. A group of Penn Medicine doctors along with a graduate student at Penn conducted a study that suggests that lidocaine can kill cancer cells. In this study, lidocaine was found to activate T2R14, the bitter taste receptor. T2R14 levels are elevated in certain kinds of cancer cells including neck squamous cell carcinomas which are common in human papillomavirus (HPV). The team of researchers discovered through earlier studies that increased bitter taste receptors increased survival rates of patients with head and neck cancer. Once T2R14 is activated, cancer cells begin to die in a process known as apoptosis, according to a news release from Penn Medicine.
This information leads to further optimism among scientists. The understanding that lidocaine, a very safe drug, can have such positive effects on cancer cells is very encouraging for the researchers. According to Robert Lee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery at Perelman School of Medicine: "We’ve been following this line of research for years but were surprised to find that lidocaine targets the one receptor that happened to be most highly expressed across cancers. T2R14 is found in cells throughout the body. What’s incredibly exciting is that a lot of existing drugs activate it, so there could be additional opportunities to think about repurposing other drugs that could safely target this receptor," according to a news release from Penn Medicine.
The plans for future research are also noteworthy. The study was funded by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the American Head and Neck Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the McCabe Foundation. Due to the findings of this study, Carey hopes to begin a clinical trial at the Abramson Cancer Center of Penn Medicine to study the effects of lidocaine treatment on HPV patients with neck squamous cell carcinomas, according to a news release from Penn Medicine.
