In Episode 60, we step outside the realms of mental health and anesthesia to explore a groundbreaking 2026 study by Korkmaz and colleagues that asks a shocking question: can ketamine fight cancer directly? We dive into an in vitro study focusing on HT-29 colorectal cancer cells, exploring the potential of repositioning this common anesthetic in the oncology world.

Cancer cells are notoriously hard to kill because they deactivate apoptosis—the body’s natural cellular suicide program. This study reveals that ketamine effectively flips this self-destruct switch back on, showing a marked increase in early apoptosis. It alters the delicate balance of key proteins by downregulating Bcl-2, which protects the tumor, and upregulating Bax, which tears the cancer cell apart. At the same time, ketamine acts as an anti-proliferative agent, stop ...