Migraine Drug Could Boost Cancer Treatment: Fudan Team's Latest Findings Published in Cell

In the early hours of February 6, 2026 (Beijing time), a team led by Professor Shao Zhimin and Professor Jiang Yizhou of Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, together with Professor Ni Jinfei's team at Fudan University's Institute for Translational Brain Research, published a study online in Cell. The research reveals for the first time that sensory nerves within tumors are the culprit behind short-term resistance to immunotherapy in some patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Drawing on 360 clinical samples of triple-negative breast cancer, the team confirmed that perineural invasion in pathological sections is an important marker signaling poor prognosis and poor response to immunotherapy.

Once activated, sensory nerves recruit fibroblasts to produce collagen, forming an "isolation barrier" that blocks immune cells. The study also found that rimegepant, a CGRP receptor antagonist widely used to treat migraines, can suppress this pathway and sensitize tumors to immunotherapy. The "Fudan classification" proposed by Shao Zhimin's team has raised the response rate in refractory triple-negative breast cancer from 10% to 29%, and the five-year survival rate for patients treated at the hospital's breast cancer center stands at 93.6%.