Serotonergic drug repurposing in multiple sclerosis: A new possibility for disease-modifying therapy

Mikhail Melnikov; Dmitriy Kasatkin; Anna Lopatina; Nikolay Spirin; Alexey Boyko; Mikhail Pashenkov

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.920408

Serotonergic drug repurposing in multiple sclerosis: A new possibility for disease-modifying therapy

Front Neurol. 2022 Jul 22:13:920408. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.920408. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Mikhail Melnikov^{1

2

3}, Dmitriy Kasatkin⁴, Anna Lopatina¹, Nikolay Spirin⁴, Alexey Boyko^{1

2}, Mikhail Pashenkov³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroimmunology, Federal Center of Brain Research and Neurotechnology of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia, Moscow, Russia.
² Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Medical Genetics, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
³ Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, National Research Center Institute of Immunology of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia, Moscow, Russia.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Medical Genetics, Yaroslavl State Medical University, Yaroslavl, Russia.

Abstract

Investigation of neuroimmune interactions is one of the most developing areas in the study of multiple sclerosis pathogenesis. Recent evidence suggests the possibility of modulating neuroinflammation by targeting biogenic amine receptors. It has been shown that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine modulates innate and adaptive immune system cells' function and can reduce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis severity. This brief report discusses the immune mechanisms underlying the multiple sclerosis pathogenesis and the influence of fluoxetine on them. The retrospective data on the impact of fluoxetine treatment on the course of multiple sclerosis are also presented. The results of this and other studies suggest that fluoxetine could be considered an additional therapy to the standard first-line disease-modifying treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Keywords: Th17-cells; drug repurposing; fluoxetine; multiple sclerosis; neuroimmune interaction.