title: Rationale for treatment of cancer with calcium antagonists. A review.
abstract: Calcium antagonists are broad spectrum antineoplastic agents capable of influencing favorably the course of cancer by inhibiting growth factor-initiated cell activation, blocking metastasis, or reversing inherent or acquired resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Calcium antagonists constitute an attractive category of agents for clinical trials in humans because their effects on malignancy in vivo in experimental animals are dramatic, and because there are several such agents on the market that can be adapted readily for such studies. However, an appreciation of the mechanisms of action of these drugs on cancer is essential for selection of an experimental design for therapeutic trials that will test these mechanisms adequately. The purpose of this review is to summarize available information on effects of calcium antagonists on cancer to facilitate incorporation of such drugs into therapeutic trials in human malignancy.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers