abstract
Epigenetic alterations, as a cancer hallmark, are associated with cancer initiation, progression and aggressiveness. Considering, however, that these alterations are reversible, drugs that target epigenetic machinery may have an inhibitory effect upon cancer treatment. The traditional drug discovery pathway is time-consuming and expensive, and thus, new and more effective strategies are required. Drug Repurposing (DR) comprises the discovery of a new medical indication for a drug that is approved for another indication, which has been recalled, that was not accepted or failed to prove efficacy. DR presents several advantages, mainly reduced resources, absence of the initial target discovery process and the reduced time necessary for the drug to be commercially available. There are numerous old drugs that are under study as repurposed epigenetic inhibitors which have demonstrated promising results in in vitro tumor models. Herein, we summarize the DR process and explore several repurposed drugs with different epigenetic targets that constitute promising candidates for cancer treatment, highlighting their mechanisms of action.
keywords
HISTONE DEACETYLASE INHIBITOR; TUMOR-SUPPRESSOR GENES; PROSTATE-CANCER; DNA METHYLATION; MYELODYSPLASTIC SYNDROMES; TRICHOSTATIN-A; DEMETHYLASE 1; CELL-DEATH; EXPRESSION; APICIDIN
subject category
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
authors
Moreira-Silva, F; Camilo, V; Gaspar, V; Mano, JE; Henrique, R; Jeronimo, C
our authors
João Mano
Vice Director
Vítor Gaspar
Assistant Professoracknowledgements
This research was funded by the grant of FCT, HyTherCaP (PTDC/MECONC/29030/2017) and UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020.