Research published in the journal Genetics suggests that sertraline targets intracellular membranes of yeast cells that don't express the known therapeutic target, suggesting a secondary drug target or pathway
A new discovery about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) suggests that these drugs, which are used to treat mental health disorders like depression and anxiety, have multiple effects on our cells. In a research report published in the August 2010 issue of GENETICS (http://www.genetics.org), researchers used yeast cells to identify secondary drug targets or pathways affected by SSRIs. Such secondary pathways could help explain why different people taking the same drug may experience different effects, and could also lead to new types of drugs altogether.
"We hope that our study begins to illuminate the full breadth of pharmacological effects of antidepressants on cellular physiology starting with the simple unicellular eukaryote, budding yeast," said Ethan O. Perlstein, Ph.D, a researcher involved in the work from the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University in New Jersey. "Furthermore, our work validates the notion that simple model organisms may be useful for the study of complex human disease."