ArticleEcancermedicalscience2017
Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO)-chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as anti-cancer agents.
Article in Ecancermedicalscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 145 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
145 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 271 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhancing radiation sensitivity in malignant brain tumors with chloroquine: a systematic review.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Hydroxychloroquine-Chloroquine, QT-Prolongation, and Major Adverse Cardiac Events: A Meta-analysis and Scoping Review.The Annals of pharmacotherapy · 2024Pooled it
- Malaria and cancer: common features and interactions.Trends in parasitology · 2026Review
- Pharmacological Blockade of Hypoxia-Driven Autophagy: A Therapeutic Strategy to Limit Endothelial Activation and Thrombosis.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2026Article
- Review
- GABARAPL2 and Alix mediate reciprocal regulation of autophagy and exosome pathways to facilitate cellular homeostasis.Molecular biology reports · 2026Article
- The Lysosome-Cathepsin Axis in Pancreatic Cancer: Mechanisms of Stromal Remodeling, Immune Evasion, and Therapy Resistance.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Photocaged Chloroquine Derivatives for the Light-Dependent Inhibition of Autophagy in Cancer Stem Cells.ACS chemical biology · 2026Article
- Tumor Lipidomic Changes after Treatment with Polymeric Hydroxychloroquine in a Syngeneic Murine Model of Pancreatic Cancer.ACS omega · 2026Article
- Desloratadine InducesCells · 2025Article
- The Expendables: Overlooked Medications with Anti-Cancer Properties.Current oncology reports · 2025Review
- Increased cancer risk in patients with IgG4-related disease in a nationwide South Korean cohort, 2012-2021.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Enhancing Anticancer Effects: Targeted Doxorubicin Delivery Using UiO-66-NHJournal of materials science. Materials in medicine · 2025Article
- Revealing genetic drivers of ovarian cancer and chemoresistance: insights from whole-genome CRISPR-knockout library screens.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2025Review
- Repurposing the Antidepressant Sertraline: A Systematic Scoping Review of Its Anticancer Mechanisms.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2025Article
- The therapeutic potential of pegylated arginase I treatment in glioblastoma.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- An overview of autophagy inhibition as a potential clinical strategy in cancer therapy.Molecular pharmacology · 2025Review
- Review
- Selective Inhibition of the ABCG2 Transporter by Primaquine Derivatives Reverses the Multidrug Resistance of Tumor Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Effects of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine on bone health (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2025Review
85 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are well-known 4-aminoquinoline antimalarial agents. Scientific evidence also supports the use of CQ and HCQ in the treatment of cancer. Overall, preclinical studies support CQ and HCQ use in anti-cancer therapy, especially in combination with conventional anti-cancer treatments since they are able to sensitise tumour cells to a variety of drugs, potentiating the therapeutic activity. Thus far, clinical results are mostly in favour of the repurposing of CQ. However, over 30 clinical studies are still evaluating the activity of both CQ and HCQ in different cancer types and in combination with various standard treatments. Interestingly, CQ and HCQ exert effects both on cancer cells and on the tumour microenvironment. In addition to inhibition of the autophagic flux, which is the most studied anti-cancer effect of CQ and HCQ, these drugs affect the Toll-like receptor 9, p53 and CXCR4-CXCL12 pathway in cancer cells. In the tumour stroma, CQ was shown to affect the tumour vasculature, cancer-associated fibroblasts and the immune system. The evidence reviewed in this paper indicates that both CQ and HCQ deserve further clinical investigations in several cancer types. Special attention about the drug (CQ versus HCQ), the dose and the schedule of administration should be taken in the design of new trials.
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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.