ArticleOncotarget2017
The repurposed anthelmintic mebendazole in combination with trametinib suppresses refractory NRASQ61K melanoma.
Article in Oncotarget, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Harnessing Proteogenomics to Advance Precision Oncology: From Melanoma and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Perspective.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- Characterization of the anticancer effect of mebendazole and its interaction with standard cytotoxic drugs in patient tumor cellsOncology reports · 2026Article
- Melanoma: Pathogenesis and Targeted Therapy.MedComm · 2026Review
- Multi-modal omics analysis of a paediatric melanoma highlights mechanisms underlying treatment resistance.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Uncovering the Tumorigenic Blueprint of PFOS and PFOA Through Multi-Organ Transcriptomic Analysis of Biomarkers, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Targets.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- Mechanistic Insights and Clinical Implications of ELK1 in Solid Tumors: A Narrative Review.Cells · 2025Review
- Molecular Subtypes and Biomarkers of Ulcerative Colitis Revealed by Sphingolipid Metabolism-Related Genes: Insights from Machine Learning and Molecular Dynamics.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- Article
- The therapeutic potential of repurposed mebendazole, alone and in synergistic combination with ONC201, in the treatment of diffuse midline glioma.American journal of cancer research · 2025Article
- Mebendazole effectively overcomes imatinib resistance by dual-targeting BCR/ABL oncoprotein and β-tubulin in chronic myeloid leukemia cells.The Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology : official journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology · 2025Article
- In vitro and in vivo anticancer activity of mebendazole in colon cancer: a promising drug repositioning.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2024Article
- Drug Repurposing in Oncology: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials.Cancers · 2023Review
- Emerging Perspectives on the Antiparasitic Mebendazole as a Repurposed Drug for the Treatment of Brain Cancers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Identification of oral therapeutics using an AI platform against the virus responsible for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Mebendazole prevents distant organ metastases in part by decreasing ITGβ4 expression and cancer stemness.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2022Article
- Review
- Antidiabetics, Anthelmintics, Statins, and Beta-Blockers as Co-Adjuvant Drugs in Cancer Therapy.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- Mebendazole, an anti-helminth drug, suppresses inflammation, oxidative stress and injury in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- HPMA Copolymer Mebendazole Conjugate Allows Systemic Administration and Possesses Antitumour Activity In Vivo.Pharmaceutics · 2022Article
- Double Repositioning: Veterinary Antiparasitic to Human Anticancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Structure-based drug repositioning in addition to random chemical screening is now a viable route to rapid drug development. Proteochemometric computational methods coupled with kinase assays showed that mebendazole (MBZ) binds and inhibits kinases important in cancer, especially both BRAFWT and BRAFV600E. We find that MBZ synergizes with the MEK inhibitor trametinib to inhibit growth of BRAFWT-NRASQ61K melanoma cells in culture and in xenografts, and markedly decreased MEK and ERK phosphorylation. Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA) and immunoblot analyses show that both trametinib and MBZ inhibit the MAPK pathway, and cluster analysis revealed a protein cluster showing strong MBZ+trametinib - inhibited phosphorylation of MEK and ERK within 10 minutes, and its direct and indirect downstream targets related to stress response and translation, including ElK1 and RSKs within 30 minutes. Downstream ERK targets for cell cycle, including cMYC, were down-regulated, consistent with S- phase suppression by MBZ+trametinib, while apoptosis markers, including cleaved caspase-3, cleaved PARP and a sub-G1 population, were all increased with time. These data suggest that MBZ, a well-tolerated off-patent approved drug, should be considered as a therapeutic option in combination with trametinib, for patients with NRASQ61mut or other non-V600E BRAF mutant melanomas.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.