The Use of Tamoxifen as a Potential Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic mental disease that substantially affects the patient’s quality of life and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Although there are a variety of available treatments, therapeutic intervention is not beneficial in many cases and recurrence rates remain high. Recent data suggested tamoxifen, a drug with a wide range of activities, as a potential treatment for reducing manic symptoms of BD. Tamoxifen’s therapeutic effect on bipolar mania has not been fully elucidated, but it is believed to biochemically operate on protein kinase C (PKC) inhibition. In this article, we review preclinical and clinical studies investigating the efficacy of tamoxifen as a potential treatment for bipolar manic patients.