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Drug Repurposing: An Avenue Toward Stress Medicine in Cancer Therapy

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Oxidative Stress

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Abstract

Cancer cells harbor a higher level of radical species owing to the metabolic reprogramming and signaling aberrations required for the continuously uncontrolled proliferation. The high basal level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cancer cells renders them more susceptible to reagents that further augment ROS generation or that weaken antioxidant defenses, proposing that the augment of oxidative stress exclusively in cancer cells provides a rational therapeutic strategy for anticancer drug development. Taking advantage of an attractive strategy termed drug repurposing, which describes identifying new medical indications for existing drugs with less risk, lower cost, and shorter development timeline, a portfolio of non-oncology drugs with the potential of boosting oxidative stress is repurposed to extend the arsenal of cancer therapies. In this chapter, we will present the growing data that repurposing of old drugs, especially agents modulating oxidative stress, for anticancer activity, provides an opportunity to rapidly advance therapeutic strategies into clinical trials at a relatively low cost.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81821002, 81790251 and 81972665), National Key Research and Development Project (2020YFA0509400, 2020YFC2002705), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019B030302012).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, and West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, Chengdu, China

    Na Xie & Canhua Huang

  2. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China

    Canhua Huang

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  1. Na Xie
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Correspondence to Canhua Huang .

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  1. Basic Medical Science & Forensic Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Canhua Huang

  2. Department of Pharmacology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Yuanyuan Zhang

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Xie, N., Huang, C. (2021). Drug Repurposing: An Avenue Toward Stress Medicine in Cancer Therapy. In: Huang, C., Zhang, Y. (eds) Oxidative Stress. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0522-2_10

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