ReviewBritish medical bulletin2021
Repurposing approved drugs for cancer therapy.
Review in British medical bulletin, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug repurposing in oncology: a systematic review of anticancer effects of Lanatoside C at the molecular level.BMC cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- TrxR Inhibition and Nrf2-FOXO3 Modulation by Repurposed Drugs: A Redox Strategy to Reverse Cancer Multidrug Resistance.Drug development research · 2026Review
- Integrated data-independent acquisition and thermal proteome profiling for proteomic characterization of lamotrigine-treated MCF-7 cells.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Repurposing Itraconazole in Combination with Chemotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor for Cancer.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Emerging pathological mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis: from neuroimmune interactions to intercellular communication.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Review
- Article
- Recent advances in drug repurposing for cancer immunomodulation emerging strategies, mechanistic insights, and clinical translation.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Repurposing DPP-4 inhibitors as anticancer agents in KRAS-mutated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Article
- Old Drugs, New Battles: Unleashing Repurposed Drug Classes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- In Vitro Investigation of the Antiproliferative and Antimetastatic Effects of Atorvastatin: A Focus on Cervical and Head and Neck Cancers.Pharmaceutics · 2025Article
- Src and Abl as Therapeutic Targets in Lung Cancer: Opportunities for Drug Repurposing.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Tubulin inhibitors: an insight into new strategies to combat leukemia.Future medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Old drugs, new challenges: reassigning drugs for cancer therapies.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2025Review
- Repurposing the anti-parasitic agent pentamidine for cancer therapy; a novel approach with promising anti-tumor properties.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Metformin and glioma: Targeting metabolic dysregulation for enhanced therapeutic outcomes.Translational oncology · 2025Review
- Unlocking New Potential: Drug Repurposing and Innovative Pharmaceutics.Current drug research reviews · 2025Article
- Article
- Strategies in Taxol Development: A Review.Mini reviews in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Promising candidate drug target genes for repurposing in cervical cancer: A bioinformatics-based approach.Narra J · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMany drugs approved for other indications can control the growth of tumor cells and limit adverse events (AE). DATA SOURCES: Literature searches with keywords 'repurposing and cancer' books, websites: https://clinicaltrials.gov/, for drug structures: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: Introducing approved drugs, such as those developed to treat diabetes (Metformin) or inflammation (Thalidomide), identified to have cytostatic activity, can enhance chemotherapy or even replace more cytotoxic drugs. Also, anti-inflammatory compounds, cytokines and inhibitors of proteolysis can be used to control the side effects of chemo- and immuno-therapies or as second-line treatments for tumors resistant to kinase inhibitors (KI). Drugs specifically developed for cancer therapy, such as interferons (IFN), the tyrosine KI abivertinib TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor inhibitors, may help control symptoms of Covid-19. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: Better knowledge of mechanisms of drug activities is essential for repurposing. Chemotherapies induce ER stress and enhance mutation rates and chromosome alterations, leading to resistance that cannot always be related to mutations in the target gene. Metformin, thalidomide and cytokines (IFN, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and others) have pleiomorphic activities, some of which can enhance tumorigenesis. The small and fragile patient pools available for clinical trials can cloud the data on the usefulness of cotreatments. GROWING POINTS: Better understanding of drug metabolism and mechanisms should aid in repurposing drugs for primary, adjuvant and adjunct treatments. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: Optimizing drug combinations, reducing cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutics and controlling associated inflammation.
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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.