Ezetimibe Anticancer Activity via the p53/Mdm2 Pathway.

Charmy Twala, Sibusiso Malindisa, Chamone Munnik, Selisha Sooklal, Monde Ntwasa

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Biomedicines, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Computational Evaluation of Novel PARP-1 Inhibitors for Breast Cancer: Docking, Molecular Dynamics, MM/GBSA, DFT and ADMET Calculations.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Charmy TwalaDepartment of Life & Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Cnr. Pioneer and Christiaan de Wet Roads, B2-010 Calabash Building, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-8731-7032

Sibusiso MalindisaDepartment of Life & Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Cnr. Pioneer and Christiaan de Wet Roads, B2-010 Calabash Building, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-9287-9408

Chamone MunnikDepartment of Life & Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Cnr. Pioneer and Christiaan de Wet Roads, B2-010 Calabash Building, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.

Selisha SooklalDepartment of Life & Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Cnr. Pioneer and Christiaan de Wet Roads, B2-010 Calabash Building, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-8555-224X

Monde NtwasaDepartment of Life & Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Cnr. Pioneer and Christiaan de Wet Roads, B2-010 Calabash Building, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-6400-8867

Funding

Department of Higher Education (South Africa). 0National Research Foundation - South Africa 12878

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEzetimibe is used to treat cardiovascular disease as it blocks the sterol transporter Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1 (NPC1CL1) protein. However, recent evidence indicates that Ezetimibe inhibits several cancers indirectly by reducing circulating cholesterol or via specific signalling pathways. METHODS AND

resultsOur in silico studies indicate that Ezetimibe binds to the Tp53 binding domain in Mdm2, forming a more thermodynamically stable complex than nutlin3a. Furthermore, a docking study of the newly developed inhibitors-RG7388 and RG7112-was conducted. This further showed lower binding energies of -6.337 kcal/mol and -6.222 kcal/mol, respectively, when compared to the -7.919 kcal/mol exhibited by Ezetimibe. We show that Ezetimibe inhibits the growth of several cancer cell lines at concentrations that are not toxic to a normal cell line.

conclusionsThus, Ezetimibe is probably active against cancers that overexpress Mdm2. Moreover, inhibitors of RBBP6 may be combined with Ezetimibe for effective anticancer activity. Due to poor oral bioavailability, Ezetimibe must be administered parenterally for cancer treatment.

Indexed as

cancerdrug designdrug developmentdrug repurposingEzetimibeMdm2p53

Identifiers

PMID39857778

DOI10.3390/biomedicines13010195

PMCPMC11761875

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.