New tricks for many old drugs to kill cancer cells

Credit : Susanna Hamilton, Broad Communications

Article Highlights

A study testing thousands of medicines in hundreds of cancer cell lines in the lab uncovers new tricks for many old drugs
Drugs for diabetes, inflammation, alcoholism — and even for treating arthritis in dogs — can also kill cancer cells in the lab, according to a study by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The researchers systematically analyzed thousands of already developed drug compounds and found nearly 50 that have previously unrecognized anti-cancer activity. The surprising findings, which also revealed novel drug mechanisms and targets, suggest a possible way to accelerate the development of new cancer drugs or repurpose existing drugs to treat cancer
“We thought we’d be lucky if we found even a single compound with anti-cancer properties, but we were surprised to find so many,”
The study also marks the first time researchers screened the entire collection of mostly non-cancer drugs for their anti-cancer capabilities
They found nearly 50 non-cancer drugs — including those initially developed to lower cholesterol or reduce inflammation — that killed some cancer cells while leaving others alone
Some of the compounds killed cancer cells in unexpected ways. “Most existing cancer drugs work by blocking proteins, but we’re finding that compounds can act through other mechanisms,” said Corsello. Some of the four-dozen drugs he and his colleagues identified appear to act not by inhibiting a protein but by activating a protein or stabilizing a protein-protein interaction
Most of the non-oncology drugs that killed cancer cells in the study did so by interacting with a previously unrecognized molecular target
The researchers hope to study the repurposing library compounds in more cancer cell lines and to grow the hub to include even more compounds that have been tested in humans

The Complete Story: Dozens of non-oncology drugs can kill cancer cells

Broad Institute | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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