The antidepressant fluoxetine elicits anticancer effects by impairing aerobic glycolysis in colon cancer cells and xenografts.

Colon cancer is one of the most common tumors worldwide. Recent reports showed that patients treated with the antidepressant fluoxetine had reduced colon cancer risk, with effects similar to the chemotherapeutic 5-fluoro-uracil. Here, we examined the effects of fluoxetine and 5-fluoro-uracil on gene expression of HT29 colon cancer cell xenografts. HT29 xenografts in NOD/SCID mice were treated with vehicle (physiological solution), fluoxetine (30mg/kg/day), or 5-Fluoro-uracil (50 mg/kg/day).