Abstract
Olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic, is now increasingly used as an off-label indication for the management of cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). However, how olanzapine affects cancer cells per se remains poorly understood. The effects of olanzapine treatment and survivin knockdown, alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, on survivin expression and cell viability were investigated in human cancer cell lines. Olanzapine reduced survivin expression in lung and pancreatic cancer stem cell (CSC) lines and sensitized them to chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine, and cisplatin in a survivin expression-dependent manner. Olanzapine also reduced survivin expression and chemosensitized serum-cultured, non-CSC ovarian cancer cells that expressed survivin. Olanzapine may benefit cancer patients not only as an antiemetic for CINV, but also by enhancing the effects of chemotherapeutic agents through down-regulation of survivin, which has been implicated in multidrug chemoresistance.
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