Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare progressive motor neuron disease that, due to its high complexity, still lacks effective treatments. Development of a new drug is a highly costly and time-consuming process, and the repositioning of approved drugs can represent an efficient strategy to p...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-02-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/3/1751 |
| _version_ | 1797318706383028224 |
|---|---|
| author | Rosa Luisa Potenza Monica Armida Patrizia Popoli |
| author_facet | Rosa Luisa Potenza Monica Armida Patrizia Popoli |
| author_sort | Rosa Luisa Potenza |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare progressive motor neuron disease that, due to its high complexity, still lacks effective treatments. Development of a new drug is a highly costly and time-consuming process, and the repositioning of approved drugs can represent an efficient strategy to provide therapeutic opportunities. This is particularly true for rare diseases, which are characterised by small patient populations and therefore attract little commercial interest. Based on the overlap between the biological background of cancer and neurodegeneration, the repurposing of antineoplastic drugs for ALS has been suggested. The objective of this narrative review was to summarise the current experimental evidence on the use of approved anticancer drugs in ALS. Specifically, anticancer drugs belonging to different classes were found to act on mechanisms involved in the ALS pathogenesis, and some of them proved to exert beneficial effects in ALS models. However, additional studies are necessary to confirm the real therapeutic potential of anticancer drugs for repositioning in ALS treatment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:56:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8555b44860549799661bfa58b2fa7d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T03:56:10Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8555b44860549799661bfa58b2fa7d92024-02-09T15:14:27ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672024-02-01253175110.3390/ijms25031751Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative ReviewRosa Luisa Potenza0Monica Armida1Patrizia Popoli2National Centre for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, ItalyNational Centre for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, ItalyNational Centre for Drug Research and Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, ItalyAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare progressive motor neuron disease that, due to its high complexity, still lacks effective treatments. Development of a new drug is a highly costly and time-consuming process, and the repositioning of approved drugs can represent an efficient strategy to provide therapeutic opportunities. This is particularly true for rare diseases, which are characterised by small patient populations and therefore attract little commercial interest. Based on the overlap between the biological background of cancer and neurodegeneration, the repurposing of antineoplastic drugs for ALS has been suggested. The objective of this narrative review was to summarise the current experimental evidence on the use of approved anticancer drugs in ALS. Specifically, anticancer drugs belonging to different classes were found to act on mechanisms involved in the ALS pathogenesis, and some of them proved to exert beneficial effects in ALS models. However, additional studies are necessary to confirm the real therapeutic potential of anticancer drugs for repositioning in ALS treatment.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/3/1751amyotrophic lateral sclerosisanticancer drugsrepositioning |
| spellingShingle | Rosa Luisa Potenza Monica Armida Patrizia Popoli Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review International Journal of Molecular Sciences amyotrophic lateral sclerosis anticancer drugs repositioning |
| title | Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review |
| title_full | Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review |
| title_fullStr | Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review |
| title_short | Can Some Anticancer Drugs Be Repurposed to Treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? A Brief Narrative Review |
| title_sort | can some anticancer drugs be repurposed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis a brief narrative review |
| topic | amyotrophic lateral sclerosis anticancer drugs repositioning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/3/1751 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rosaluisapotenza cansomeanticancerdrugsberepurposedtotreatamyotrophiclateralsclerosisabriefnarrativereview AT monicaarmida cansomeanticancerdrugsberepurposedtotreatamyotrophiclateralsclerosisabriefnarrativereview AT patriziapopoli cansomeanticancerdrugsberepurposedtotreatamyotrophiclateralsclerosisabriefnarrativereview |