Abstract
Ever present hurdles for the discovery of new drugs for cancer therapy have necessitated the development of the alternative strategy of drug repurposing, the development of old drugs for new therapeutic purposes. This strategy with a cost-effective way offers a rare opportunity for the treatment of human neoplastic disease, facilitating rapid clinical translation. With an increased understanding of the hallmarks of cancer and the development of various data-driven approaches, drug repurposing further promotes the holistic productivity of drug discovery and reasonably focuses on target-defined antineoplastic compounds. The “treasure trove” of non-oncology drugs should not be ignored since they could target not only known but also hitherto unknown vulnerabilities of cancer. Indeed, different from targeted drugs, these old generic drugs, usually used in a multi-target strategy may bring benefit to patients. In this review, aiming to demonstrate the full potential of drug repurposing, we present various promising repurposed non-oncology drugs for clinical cancer management and classify these candidates into their proposed administration for either mono- or drug combination therapy. We also summarize approaches used for drug repurposing and discuss the main barriers to its uptake.
Highlights
Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide.[1,2]Opportunities to help reduce the death rate from cancer through the discovery of new drugs are benefiting from the increasing advances in technology and enhanced knowledge of human neoplastic disease.[3,4] translation of these new drugs into clinical practice has been far slower than expected.[5,6] Drug development requires an average of 13 years research
We will mainly focus on the anticancer activity of existing drugs that were not originally intended for cancer therapy to highlight the relevant signaling pathways and discuss the properties of these agents for the reasonable use of medication based on the hallmarks of cancer. Those targeting sustaining proliferative signaling, resisting cell death, deregulating cellular energetics and avoiding immune destruction may be more effective in monotherapy, while those targeting evading growth suppressors, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, activating invasion and metastasis, genome instability and mutation and tumor-promoting inflammation may be more suitable for drug combination therapy.[37,38]
In the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDo) project that includes 72 drugs involved in 190 registered clinical trials,
Summary
Zhe Zhang[1], Li Zhou[1], Na Xie[1], Edouard C. We will mainly focus on the anticancer activity of existing drugs that were not originally intended for cancer therapy to highlight the relevant signaling pathways and discuss the properties of these agents for the reasonable use of medication based on the hallmarks of cancer Those targeting sustaining proliferative signaling, resisting cell death, deregulating cellular energetics and avoiding immune destruction may be more effective in monotherapy, while those targeting evading growth suppressors, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, activating invasion and metastasis, genome instability and mutation and tumor-promoting inflammation may be more suitable for drug combination therapy.[37,38]. Non-oncology drugs suitable for cancer monotherapy Many newly identified non-oncology drugs repurposed for cancer therapy act by inhibiting proliferation and inducing cell death as indicated by a large body of data from in vitro and in vivo experiments or clinical trials.[51–53] These drugs, which have previously been used for other indications, already have reliable drug safety data and are often inexpensive (especially if they are available as generics).[54].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
