  The anticancer potential of monoamine oxidase (MAO) was observed in
pre-clinical assays conducted with cell cultures and animals. L-Deprenyl (DEP)
causes apoptosis in melanoma, leukemia and mammary cells. High-dose DEP has
shown toxicity in mammary and pituitary cancers, as well as in monoblastic
leukemia, in rats. DEP accounts for immune-stimulant effect capable of
increasing natural killer cell activity, IL-2 generation, as well as of
inhibiting tumor growth. DEP administration in old female rats has increased
IL-2 generation and inverted the age-related depletion of IFN-{\gamma}
generation in the spleen. Co-adjuvant DEP administration helped
preventing/mitigating symptoms associated with peripheral neuropathy in cancer
treatment. It also enhanced the cytotoxic effects of antineoplastic drugs -
such as doxorubicin, cisplatin, among others - in cancer cells while they
protected healthy cells from being damaged. DEP presented effect against
dysfunctions such as debilitating hormone imbalance triggered by pituitary
gland tumor; this gland produces the stimulatory hormone of adrenocorticotropic
hormone which was related to the exacerbation of this disease. Thus, DEP
emerges as an excellent potential drug against several cancer types and it also
presents low toxicity in Parkinson`s disease patients subjected to long
treatment with it.
