Drug Repurposing in Oncology : Current Evidence and Future Direction

BACKGROUND: Drug repurposing, the application of known drugs and compounds with a non-oncology primary purpose, might be an attractive strategy to offer more effective treatment options to patients with cancer at a low cost and reduced time.METHODS: This review described a total of 10 kinds of non-oncological drugs from more than 100 mechanical studies as well as evidence from population-based studies. The future direction of repurposed drug screening was discussed by using patient-derived tumor organoids.RESULTS: Many old drugs showed previously unknown effects or off-target effects and can be intelligently applied for cancer chemoprevention and therapy. The identification of repurposed drugs needs to combine evidence from mechanical studies and population-based studies. Due to the heterogeneity of cancer, patient-derived tumor organoids can be used to screen the non-oncological drugs in vitro.CONCLUSION: These identified old drugs could be repurposed in oncology and might be added as adjuvants and finally benefit patients with cancers