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Updated: Jun 13, 2025
Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System
Published on: December 11, 2016
Unlocking the potential of signature-based drug repurposing for anticancer drug discovery
Sruti Biswal1, Bibekanand Mallick1
1RNAi and Functional Genomics Lab., Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, 769008, Odisha, India.
Abstract:
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and is often associated with tumor relapse even after chemotherapeutics. This reveals malignancy is a complex process, and high-throughput omics strategies in recent years have contributed significantly in decoding the molecular mechanisms of these complex events in cancer. Further, the omics studies yield a large volume of cancer-specific molecular signatures that promote the discovery of cancer therapy drugs by a method termed signature-based drug repurposing. The drug repurposing method identifies new uses for approved drugs beyond their intended initial therapeutic use, and there are several approaches to it. In this review, we discuss signature-based drug repurposing in cancer, how cancer omics have revolutionized this method of drug discovery, and how one can use the cancer signature data for repurposed drug identification by providing a step-by-step procedural handout. This modern approach maximizes the use of existing therapeutic agents for cancer therapy or combination therapy to overcome chemotherapeutics resistance, making it a pragmatic and efficient alternative to traditional resource-intensive and time-consuming methods.
Insights
High-throughput omics data aids signature-based drug repurposing for cancer therapy. This approach efficiently identifies new uses for existing drugs to combat tumor relapse and drug resistance.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Genomics
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Cancer remains a leading global cause of mortality, frequently linked to treatment resistance and tumor relapse.
- Understanding cancer's complexity requires advanced molecular insights, which high-throughput omics technologies provide.
- Traditional cancer drug discovery is resource-intensive and time-consuming.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review signature-based drug repurposing as a strategy for cancer therapy.
- To highlight the impact of cancer omics on revolutionizing drug discovery.
- To provide a procedural guide for utilizing cancer signature data in repurposed drug identification.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on cancer omics and drug repurposing.
- Discussion of signature-based drug repurposing methodologies.
- Development of a step-by-step handout for practical application.
Main Results:
- Cancer omics data generates molecular signatures crucial for drug discovery.
- Signature-based drug repurposing offers an efficient method for identifying novel therapeutic applications for existing drugs.
- This approach facilitates the development of effective cancer therapies and combination treatments.
Conclusions:
- Signature-based drug repurposing, powered by cancer omics, is a pragmatic approach to cancer drug discovery.
- This strategy can overcome chemotherapeutic resistance and improve patient outcomes.
- It represents an efficient alternative to conventional drug development pipelines.
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