A Drug Repurposing Pipeline Based on Bladder Cancer Integrated Proteotranscriptomics Signatures

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Genomics
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Bladder cancer (BC) presents significant heterogeneity and therapeutic challenges, including low drug efficacy and acquired resistance.
• Current treatment modalities for BC have limitations, necessitating the development of innovative therapeutic strategies.
• Drug repurposing, a cost-effective approach, involves identifying new uses for existing drugs, offering potential for improved BC treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an integrated, multilayer strategy for identifying potential drug repurposing candidates for bladder cancer.
• To utilize multi-omics signatures derived from BC tissues and cell lines to guide drug repurposing efforts.
• To explore novel therapeutic avenues for bladder cancer treatment through the systematic investigation of existing drugs.

Main Methods:

• Integrated multilayer approach involving cross-omics analyses of transcriptomics and proteomics data from BC tissues and cell lines.
• Development of BC-specific molecular signatures from multi-omics data.
• Signature-based drug repurposing using the Connectivity Map (CMap) tool.

Main Results:

• Identification of disease-specific molecular signatures through integrated cross-omics analysis.
• Application of these signatures within a drug repurposing framework using the CMap tool.
• Establishment of a methodology for selecting existing drugs with high therapeutic potential for BC.

Conclusions:

• The integrated multilayer approach provides a robust framework for bladder cancer drug repurposing.
• Multi-omics signatures are valuable for guiding the identification of effective repurposed drugs for BC.
• This strategy holds promise for developing more effective treatments and improving patient outcomes in bladder cancer.