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Repurposing drugs for solid tumor treatment: focus on immune checkpoint inhibitors
Qingxu Liu1, Long Li1, Wan Qin1
1Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
Abstract:
Cancer remains a significant global health challenge with limited treatment options beyond systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and molecular targeted therapy. Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic modality but the efficacy has plateaued, which therefore provides limited benefits to patients with cancer. Identification of more effective approaches to improve patient outcomes and extend survival are urgently needed. Drug repurposing has emerged as an attractive strategy for drug development and has recently garnered considerable interest. This review comprehensively analyses the efficacy of various repurposed drugs, such as transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) inhibitors, metformin, receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) inhibitors, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), thymosin α1 (Tα1), aspirin, and bisphosphonate, in tumorigenesis with a specific focus on their impact on tumor immunology and immunotherapy. Additionally, we present a concise overview of the current preclinical and clinical studies investigating the potential therapeutic synergies achieved by combining these agents with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Insights
Repurposing existing drugs offers a promising strategy to enhance cancer treatment. This review explores how drugs like metformin and aspirin can improve tumor immunology and immunotherapy outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Immunology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Cancer treatment faces limitations with current systemic therapies and plateauing immunotherapy efficacy.
- Novel approaches are crucial to improve patient survival and outcomes in oncology.
- Drug repurposing presents an attractive and efficient strategy for developing new cancer treatments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comprehensively review the efficacy of repurposed drugs in tumorigenesis.
- To analyze the impact of repurposed drugs on tumor immunology and immunotherapy.
- To explore synergistic combinations of repurposed drugs with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of preclinical and clinical studies.
- Analysis of repurposed drugs including TGF-β inhibitors, metformin, RANKL inhibitors, GM-CSF, Tα1, aspirin, and bisphosphonates.
- Focus on impact on tumor immunology and immunotherapy.
Main Results:
- Various repurposed drugs show potential in impacting tumorigenesis and modulating tumor immunology.
- Combinations with immune checkpoint inhibitors may enhance therapeutic synergies.
- Evidence suggests repurposed drugs can potentially overcome immunotherapy resistance.
Conclusions:
- Drug repurposing is a viable strategy to enhance cancer immunotherapy.
- Repurposed drugs can modulate the tumor microenvironment and immune response.
- Further investigation into drug combinations is warranted to improve cancer patient outcomes.
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