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Review
. 2023 Feb 19;24(4):4154.
doi: 10.3390/ijms24044154.

Pharmacological Efficacy of Repurposing Drugs in the Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Tânia Lourenço  1   2 , Nuno Vale  1   3   4
Affiliations
Review

Pharmacological Efficacy of Repurposing Drugs in the Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Tânia Lourenço et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Worldwide, prostate cancer (PC) is the second most frequent cancer among men and the fifth leading cause of death; moreover, standard treatments for PC have several issues, such as side effects and mechanisms of resistance. Thus, it is urgent to find drugs that can fill these gaps, and instead of developing new molecules requiring high financial and time investments, it would be useful to select non-cancer approved drugs that have mechanisms of action that could help in PC treatment, a process known as repurposing drugs. In this review article, drugs that have potential pharmacological efficacy are compiled to be repurposed for PC treatment. Thus, these drugs will be presented in the form of pharmacotherapeutic groups, such as antidyslipidemic drugs, antidiabetic drugs, antiparasitic drugs, antiarrhythmic drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibacterial drugs, antiviral drugs, antidepressant drugs, antihypertensive drugs, antifungal drugs, immunosuppressant drugs, antipsychotic drugs, antiepileptic and anticonvulsant drugs, bisphosphonates and drugs for alcoholism, among others, and we will discuss their mechanisms of action in PC treatment.

Keywords: approved drugs; drug repurposing; non-cancer drugs; prostate cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Repurposing drugs process in prostate cancer and its advantages. Non-cancer approved drugs already have available data and information that are useful for drug repurposing. After the selection of potential drugs, it is necessary to validate their properties to prove that they have what is needed to be used in prostate cancer treatment.
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