Introduction
Drug repurposing landscape: a brief synopsis
Experimental drug repurposing approach
Binding assay
Phenotypic approaches
Drug-centric approach
Target-based approach
Knowledge-based
Pathway or network-based
Repurposing of non-oncology drugs to treat cancer
Anthelmintic drugs
Class of drug | Name of drug | Chemical structure of drug | Type of cancer cells tested | Mechanism/results | Refs. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anthelmintic Antiprotozoal | Flubendazole | breast cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma, neuroblastoma colorectal cancer melanoma cells | ↑Microtubule damage ↑ROS, ↑Cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase ↑Caspases 3, 7 ↑Apoptosis ↑Cytotoxicity ↓Cancer cells growth ↓Metastasis ↓Resistance to anticancer drug trastuzumab | ||
Mebendazole | breast cancer, prostate cancer colon cancer ovarian cancer thyroid cancer | Synergistic effects with docetaxel ↓Polymerization of tubulin ↑ Cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase ↑Caspase-3 ↑Apoptosis ↑Cytotoxicity ↓ Cancer cells multiplication ↓ Tumor growth ↓Metastases | |||
Niclosamide | colorectal, breast, prostate and ovarian cancer | ↑Cytotoxicity ↓Anaerobic metabolism, ↓glucose uptake in cancer cells ↓Signaling pathways associated with metastasis, ↓NF-κB, ↓Wnt/β-catenin, ↓STAT3 | |||
Praziquantel | colorectal adenocarcinoma, gastrointestinal cancers | ↓XIAP ↓Anti-apoptotic proteins ↓Caspases ↑Apoptosis Synergic effects with paclitaxel | [53] | ||
Eprinomectin | prostate cancer | ↑Apoptosis ↑Caspases 3, 9 ↓ROS ↑Mitotic cell arrest in G1 phase ↑Translocation of β-catenin | [87] | ||
Ivermectin | colon, prostate, breast and gastric cancer | ↓Cancer cells growth ↓AKT–mTOR ↓Wnt/β-catenin ↓PAK1 ↓cyclin D ↓β-catenin ↓AKT/ERK//NF-kB ↓YAP1 ↓CTGF ↓EGFR | |||
Nitazoxanide | epithelial cancer cells | ↑Apoptosis ↓c-MYC ↓mTOR ↑DNA fragmentation and damage | [148] | ||
Clioquinol | leukemic and myeloma malignant cells | ↑Apoptosis ↓HDACs ↑Cell cycle arrest ↓p53, ↓p21 | [95] | ||
Chloroquine | pancreatic, liver cancer, cancer stem cells breast cancer | ↑Autophagy, ↓Janus kinase 2 ↓DNA methylase 1 Synergistic effect in the combination with paclitaxel ↓Growth of cancer, ↓Signaling cascade of CXCL12/CXCR4 | [149] | ||
Antiviral | Ritonavir | breast, pancreatic, ovarian and lymphocytic leukemia | ↓Akt phosphorylation ↑Apoptosis ↓Progression of cancer cells | [150] | |
Nelfinavir | ovarian, breast, lung cancer and liposarcoma | ↑Apoptosis ↓Phosphorylation of Akt ↓STAT-3 ↓Erk 1/2 | [151] | ||
Acyclovir | breast cancer | ↓Cell proliferation ↑Apoptosis ↑Caspase-3 ↓ALDH ↑Proteins expression of E-cadherin, ↓Proliferation rate, ↓Tumor growth | [125] | ||
Ribavirin | human lymphocytes and human squamous cell carcinoma | ↓Cyclin D1 ↓Proteins cells, ↓elF4E and competing for guanylyl transferase ↓Translation of VEGF ↓mRNA, inhibit 5'-mRNA | [152] | ||
Cidofovir | glioblastoma and epithelial cells cancer | ↑Apoptosis ↑PARP ↑Caspases ↑Cell cycle arrest in S-phase ↓DNA synthesis | [153] |
Flubendazole
Mebendazole
Niclosamide
Praziquantel
Eprinomectin
Ivermectin
Nitazoxanide
Clioquinol
Pyrimethamine
Antiviral drugs
Ritonavir
Nelfinavir
Acyclovir
Ribavirin
Cidofovir
Antibiotics
Sulfisoxazole
Class of Drug | Name of drug | Structure | Type of cancer to be used | Mechanism | Refs. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antibiotics | Sulfisoxazole | Breast cancer | Interfering with endothelin receptor A to stop breast cancer cells from exuding tiny extracellular vesicles | [154] | |
Azithromycin | Colon cancer | ↑TNF-α-related apoptosis ↑TRAIL ↑DR4/5 ↓Autophagy | [155] | ||
Doxycycline | Osteosarcoma, prostate carcinoma, myeloid and colon cancer | In myeloid and colon cancer, it prevents permeation by lowering MMP-2 and MMP-9 | [166] | ||
Anthracycline | Endometrial, breast, bladder, hepatic, thyroid, and pulmonary malignancies | Attaches to DNA, causing it to get alkylated, which stops the cell cycle | [182] | ||
Antifungals | Itraconazole | Non-small cell lung cancer | By eliminating lipids from the plasma membrane, it decreases AKT1 activity, which inhibits its downstream target mTOR, resulting in mortality and growth slowering | [188] | |
Rapamycin | Breast cancer | It promotes intracellular autophagy and boosts the function of Atg7 and DAPK via transcriptional activation | [196] | ||
Griseofulvin | Colorectal and cervical cancers | Affects microtubule assembly in MCF-7 cells, causing programmed cell death ↑Cell cycle arrest | |||
Clotrimazole | Breast, colon and pulmonary cancer | Blockes actin polymerization and activates glycolytic inflow | [203] | ||
Ciclopirox | Breast, colorectal cancer rhabdomyosarcoma | ↓CDC–CDK, ↓Bcl-XL ↑Caspase-dependent cascade causing apoptotic cell death | |||
Nannocystin A | Colorectal and breast cancer cells | Target eukaryotic elongation factor 1 in proteome investigations | |||
NSAIDS drugs | Aspirin | Hepatocellular carcinoma | Affects P4HA2 by suppressing NF-κB and LMCD1-AS1/let-7g of Aspirin prevents tumour growth and accumulation of collagen | ||
Ibuprofen | Adenocarcinoma | Modulates the expression levels of cancer-related genes Akt, P53, PCNA, Bax, and Bcl2 | [228] | ||
Naproxen | bladder carcinoma | ↑Cell arrest ↑Cancer cells death ↑PI3K | [233] | ||
Diclofenac | Ovarian cancer | ↑Apoptotic cell death ↓SOD2 ↓Proportion of free radicals | |||
Celecoxib | Bladder cancer | Blocks epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation ↓miRNA-145/TGFBR2/Smad3 axis | [250] | ||
Indomethacin | Colon cancer | ↓Cancer cell proliferation ↓PKC-p38-DRP1 ↓Wnt/-βcatenin signalling, to effectively target MAPK mechanisms | |||
Thiocolchicoside | Leukaemia, lymphoma, and squamous cell carcinoma | Blocks the receptor stimulator NF-kB ligand ↓NF-kB signalling cascade ↓Cancer-induced bone metastasis | |||
Artemisinin | Breast cancer | Deactivates cancer-related fibroblasts and decreases CAFs mediating growth and metastases by suppressing TGF-β signalling | [315] | ||
Artesunate | Hepatocellular carcinoma | ↑Pro-apoptotic proteins ↑caspases ↓MYC oncogene ↓Anti-apoptotic proteins | |||
Dihydroartemisinin | Ovarian cancer | ↓Cancer cell development ↓Metastases by addressing the platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha (PDGFR) | [316] | ||
Mebendazole | Melanoma | ↑Apoptotic cell death ↑Caspases ↑Bcl-2 ↓Repressor of apoptosis X-linked blocker of apoptosis (XIAP) | |||
Chloroquine | Metastatic tumors | Par-4-dependent suppression, mediates p53- and Rab8b-based Par-4 production to promote tumour cell death | [279] | ||
Pyrimethamine | Non-small cell lung cancer | ↓EMT ↓Invasion ↓Cancer cells growth, ↓Metastases by interacting with dihydrofolate reductase and thymidine phosphorylase | |||
Quinacrine | Renal cancer | Facilitates chromatin transcription (FACT) protein complex, which seems to be trapped on chromatin and induces CK2-induced phosphorylation of p53, responsible for quinacrine-mediated p53 transcription |