Repurposing Therapeutic Drugs Complexed to Vanadium in Cancer

Area of Science:

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Drug Discovery
• Oncology

Background:

• Drug repurposing accelerates treatment development and reduces costs.
• Vanadium compounds exhibit antitumor properties, making them suitable for complexation with therapeutic drugs.
• Metal complexes offer new avenues for cancer therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review research over the last 25 years on repurposing non-oncology drugs as ligands for vanadium complexes.
• To identify vanadium complexes with potential anticancer activity.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of studies published in the last 25 years.
• Identification of approved non-oncology drugs suitable for forming vanadium complexes.
• Analysis of reported anticancer potential of these novel complexes.

Main Results:

• Several vanadium complexes, including metformin-decavanadate, vanadium-bisphosphonates, vanadyl(IV) complexes with NSAIDs, and cetirizine and imidazole-based oxidovanadium(IV) complexes, were identified.
• These complexes, derived from drugs with diverse therapeutic indications, demonstrated potential as anticancer agents.
• The parent drugs of these complexes have established medicinal properties outside of oncology.

Conclusions:

• Repurposing non-oncology drugs into vanadium complexes represents a promising strategy for novel cancer treatments.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the precise mechanisms of action of these vanadium compounds against cancer.
• Vanadium-based drug repurposing holds potential for improving cancer therapy efficacy.