Impact of Polypharmacy for Chronic Ailments in Colon Cancer Patients: A Review Focused on Drug Repurposing

Colorectal cancer is characterized by high incidence worldwide. Despite increased awareness and early diagnosis thanks to screening programmes, mortality remains high, particularly for patients with metastatic involvement. Immune checkpoint inhibitors or poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-inhibitor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancers 2020-10, Vol.12 (10), p.2724
Main Authors: Giampieri, Riccardo, Cantini, Luca, Giglio, Enrica, Bittoni, Alessandro, Lanese, Andrea, Crocetti, Sonia, Pecci, Federica, Copparoni, Cecilia, Meletani, Tania, Lenci, Edoardo, Lupi, Alessio, Baleani, Maria Giuditta, Berardi, Rossana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotics
Antidepressants
Antihypertensives
Aspirin
Beta blockers
Blood pressure
Breast cancer
Cancer therapies
Chemotherapy
Chronic illnesses
Clinical trials
Colon cancer
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal carcinoma
Disease
Drug therapy
Drugs
Hypertension
Immune checkpoint inhibitors
Immunosuppressive agents
Inflammation
Lung cancer
Medical prognosis
Metastases
Metformin
Methods
Mortality
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Patients
Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase
Polypharmacy
Review
Ribose
Risk factors
Statins
Vascular endothelial growth factor
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Summary:Colorectal cancer is characterized by high incidence worldwide. Despite increased awareness and early diagnosis thanks to screening programmes, mortality remains high, particularly for patients with metastatic involvement. Immune checkpoint inhibitors or poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-inhibitors have met with disappointing results when used in this setting, opposed to other malignancies. New drugs with different mechanisms of action are needed in this disease. Drug repurposing might offer new therapeutic options, as patients with metastatic colorectal cancer often share risk factors for other chronic diseases and thus frequently are on incidental therapy with these drugs. The aim of this review is to summarise the published results of the activity of drugs used to treat chronic medications in patients affected by colorectal cancer. We focused on antihypertensive drugs, Non-Steroid Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), metformin, antidepressants, statins and antibacterial antibiotics. Our review shows that there are promising results with beta blockers, statins and metformin, whereas data concerning antidepressants and antibacterial antibiotics seem to show a potentially harmful effect. It is hoped that further prospective trials that take into account the role of these drugs as anticancer medications are conducted.
ISSN:2072-6694
2072-6694
DOI:10.3390/cancers12102724