Drug Repurposing for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pharmacology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is aggressive, with high mortality and limited targeted therapies.
• Drug discovery is lengthy and expensive; drug repurposing accelerates this by finding new uses for existing drugs.
• Computational methods in chemoinformatics, genomics, and systems biology enhance drug repositioning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel classification of in silico drug repurposing approaches for TNBC.
• To review current research on repurposing drugs for TNBC, focusing on molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways.
• To highlight drugs repurposed to target cancer stem cells (CSCs) in TNBC.

Main Methods:

• Classification of in silico drug repurposing: structure-based, transcriptional signatures-based, biological networks-based, and data-mining-based.
• Review of preclinical and clinical studies on drug repurposing for TNBC.
• Focus on specific molecular targets: androgen receptor, adrenergic receptor, STAT3, nitric oxide synthase, AXL, and cancer stem cells (CSCs).

Main Results:

• Identified four main in silico drug repurposing strategies.
• Highlighted several existing drugs with potential for TNBC treatment based on molecular targets.
• Emphasized the importance of targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs) to combat TNBC recurrence and metastasis.

Conclusions:

• In silico drug repurposing offers a promising strategy to accelerate the development of novel TNBC therapies.
• Targeting specific molecular pathways and cancer stem cells (CSCs) is crucial for effective TNBC treatment.
• This review provides a framework for understanding and advancing drug repurposing efforts in TNBC research.