Re-Use of Established Drugs for Anti-Metastatic Indications

Abstract

Most patients that die from cancer do not die due to the primary tumor but due to the development of metastases. However, there is currently still no drug on the market that specifically addresses and inhibits metastasis formation. This lack was, in the past, largely due to the lack of appropriate screening models, but recent developments have established such models and have provided evidence that tumor cell migration works as a surrogate for metastasis formation. Herein we deliver on several examples a rationale for not only testing novel cancer drugs by use of these screening assays, but also reconsider established drugs even of other fields of indication.

Keywords: cancer; cell migration; drug screening; metastasis.

Figure 1

Cell migration was performed using the human estrogen receptor–positive, luminal-like breast carcinoma cells MCF-7 with regard to BKM120 (n = 3; A); and the human epitheloid pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1 with regard to Regorafenib (n = 7; B). Due to limited availability of material, only three experiments have been performed with one concentration for BKM 120. Both cell lines were obtained from the Cell Lines Service GmbH (Eppelheim, Germany). DMSO concentrations correspond to the highest concentration used to dissolve the substances. In (A), the left graph shows the time course of the migratory activity, the right graph displays the mean activities and standard deviations after four hours; In (B), the columns show the mean activities and standard deviations of the entire observation time of 10 h.