Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment?
Epigenetic alterations, as a cancer hallmark, are associated with cancer initiation, progression and aggressiveness. Considering, however, that these alterations are reversible, drugs that target epigenetic machinery may have an inhibitory effect upon cancer treatment. The traditional drug discovery...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Pharmaceutics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/5/410 |
| _version_ | 1827717741619970048 |
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| author | Filipa Moreira-Silva Vânia Camilo Vítor Gaspar João F. Mano Rui Henrique Carmen Jerónimo |
| author_facet | Filipa Moreira-Silva Vânia Camilo Vítor Gaspar João F. Mano Rui Henrique Carmen Jerónimo |
| author_sort | Filipa Moreira-Silva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Epigenetic alterations, as a cancer hallmark, are associated with cancer initiation, progression and aggressiveness. Considering, however, that these alterations are reversible, drugs that target epigenetic machinery may have an inhibitory effect upon cancer treatment. The traditional drug discovery pathway is time-consuming and expensive, and thus, new and more effective strategies are required. Drug Repurposing (DR) comprises the discovery of a new medical indication for a drug that is approved for another indication, which has been recalled, that was not accepted or failed to prove efficacy. DR presents several advantages, mainly reduced resources, absence of the initial target discovery process and the reduced time necessary for the drug to be commercially available. There are numerous old drugs that are under study as repurposed epigenetic inhibitors which have demonstrated promising results in in vitro tumor models. Herein, we summarize the DR process and explore several repurposed drugs with different epigenetic targets that constitute promising candidates for cancer treatment, highlighting their mechanisms of action. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:08:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a31449301b6f423e85b001ac745a7508 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4923 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:08:40Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pharmaceutics |
| spelling | doaj.art-a31449301b6f423e85b001ac745a75082023-11-19T23:04:41ZengMDPI AGPharmaceutics1999-49232020-04-0112541010.3390/pharmaceutics12050410Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment?Filipa Moreira-Silva0Vânia Camilo1Vítor Gaspar2João F. Mano3Rui Henrique4Carmen Jerónimo5Cancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, IPO Porto Research Center (CI-IPOP), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, PortugalCancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, IPO Porto Research Center (CI-IPOP), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, PortugalDepartment of Chemistry, CICECO, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalDepartment of Chemistry, CICECO, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalCancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, IPO Porto Research Center (CI-IPOP) and Department of Pathology, Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, PortugalCancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, IPO Porto Research Center (CI-IPOP), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto, PortugalEpigenetic alterations, as a cancer hallmark, are associated with cancer initiation, progression and aggressiveness. Considering, however, that these alterations are reversible, drugs that target epigenetic machinery may have an inhibitory effect upon cancer treatment. The traditional drug discovery pathway is time-consuming and expensive, and thus, new and more effective strategies are required. Drug Repurposing (DR) comprises the discovery of a new medical indication for a drug that is approved for another indication, which has been recalled, that was not accepted or failed to prove efficacy. DR presents several advantages, mainly reduced resources, absence of the initial target discovery process and the reduced time necessary for the drug to be commercially available. There are numerous old drugs that are under study as repurposed epigenetic inhibitors which have demonstrated promising results in in vitro tumor models. Herein, we summarize the DR process and explore several repurposed drugs with different epigenetic targets that constitute promising candidates for cancer treatment, highlighting their mechanisms of action.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/5/410cancerprostate cancerCRPCdrug repurposingepigeneticepi-drugs |
| spellingShingle | Filipa Moreira-Silva Vânia Camilo Vítor Gaspar João F. Mano Rui Henrique Carmen Jerónimo Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? Pharmaceutics cancer prostate cancer CRPC drug repurposing epigenetic epi-drugs |
| title | Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? |
| title_full | Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? |
| title_fullStr | Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? |
| title_short | Repurposing Old Drugs into New Epigenetic Inhibitors: Promising Candidates for Cancer Treatment? |
| title_sort | repurposing old drugs into new epigenetic inhibitors promising candidates for cancer treatment |
| topic | cancer prostate cancer CRPC drug repurposing epigenetic epi-drugs |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/12/5/410 |
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