ArticleEcancermedicalscience2015
Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO)-nitroglycerin as an anti-cancer agent.
Article in Ecancermedicalscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of Metformin Combinations with Other Repurposed Drugs in the Treatment of Hamster Fibrosarcoma: A Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Hypoxia studies in non‑small cell lung cancer: Pathogenesis and clinical implications (Review).Oncology reports · 2025Review
- Nitric Oxide Signaling and Sensing in Age-Related Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Current progress and future perspectives of polypharmacology : From the view of non-small cell lung cancer.Seminars in cancer biology · 2021Review
- The Role of Nitric Oxide in Cancer: Master Regulator or NOt?International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Review
- A novel drug repurposing approach for non-small cell lung cancer using deep learning.PloS one · 2020Article
- Receptor tyrosine kinase targeting in glioblastoma: performance, limitations and future approaches.Contemporary oncology (Poznan, Poland) · 2020Review
- S-nitrosothiols and HRedox biology · 2019Review
- Nitric Oxide-Mediated Enhancement and Reversal of Resistance of Anticancer Therapies.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Synergistic induction of apoptosis in a cell model of human leukemia K562 by nitroglycerine and valproic acid.EXCLI journal · 2019Article
- Repurposing Drugs for Cancer Radiotherapy: Early Successes and Emerging Opportunities.Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.)Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nitroglycerin (NTG), a drug that has been in clinical use for more than a century, has a range of actions which make it of particular interest in an oncological setting. It is generally accepted that the main mechanism of action of NTG is via the production of nitric oxide (NO), which improves cardiac oxygenation via multiple mechanisms including improved blood flow (vasodilation), decreased platelet aggregation, increased erythrocyte O2 release and decreased mitochondrial utilization of oxygen. Its vasoactive properties mean that it has the potential to exploit more fully the enhanced permeability and retention effect in delivering anti-cancer drugs to tumour tissues. Moreover NTG can reduce HIF-1α levels in hypoxic tumour tissues and this may have anti-angiogenic, pro-apoptotic and anti-efflux effects. Additionally NTG may enhance anti-tumour immunity. Pre-clinical and clinical data on these anti-cancer properties of NTG are summarised and discussed. While there is evidence of a positive action as a monotherapy in prostate cancer, there are mixed results in NSCLC where initially positive results have yet to be fully replicated. Based on the evidence presented, a case is made that further exploration of the clinical benefits that may accrue to cancer patients is warranted. Additionally, it is proposed that NTG may synergise with a number of other drugs, including other repurposed drugs, and these are discussed in the supplementary material appended to this paper.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.