Title:Drug Repurposing for Retinoblastoma: Recent Advances
Volume: 19
Issue: 17
Author(s): Kamakshi Dandu, Prathap R. Kallamadi, Suman S. Thakur*Ch. Mohan Rao*
Affiliation:
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Habsiguda, Hyderabad 500 007,India
- CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Habsiguda, Hyderabad 500 007,India
Keywords:
Drug repurposing, Retinoblastoma, Calcium channel blockers, Cardenolides, NSAIDs, Antimalarials, Antidiabetics,
Antibiotics.
Abstract: Retinoblastoma is the intraocular malignancy that occurs during early childhood. The current
standard of care includes chemotherapy followed by focal consolidative therapies, and enucleation. Unfortunately,
these are associated with many side and late effects. New drugs and/or drug combinations
need to be developed for safe and effective treatment. This compelling need stimulated efforts to explore
drug repurposing for retinoblastoma. While conventional drug development is a lengthy and expensive
process, drug repurposing is a faster, alternate approach, where an existing drug, not meant for treating
cancer, can be repurposed to treat retinoblastoma. The present article reviews various attempts to test
drugs approved for different purposes such as calcium channels blockers, non-steroidal antiinflammatory
drugs, cardenolides, antidiabetic, antibiotics and antimalarial for treating retinoblastoma.
It also discusses other promising candidates that could be explored for repurposing for retinoblastoma.