Dopamine: an old target in a new therapy

Dopamine, a molecule of joy and emotions, plays vital role in regulation cancer growth and tumor angiogenesis. Dopamine secrets from neural cells in brain and peripheral cells as well. Peripheral dopamine is associated with tumorigenic events. Recent publication [Sarkar et al. Int. J. Cancer: doi:10.1002/ijc.29414, 2014] suggests that dopamine can be an ideal substitute as an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) agent for the treatment tumor angiogenesis as dopamine is less expensive, minimum side-effect and more sensitive than other drugs. The studies also found that dopamine prevent the 5FU-induced neutropenia in tumor-bearing mice. Collectively, these pre-clinical studies claim that dopamine could be a novel therapy for managing cancer growth and chemotherapy related disorder.