title: Finding New Tricks for Old Drugs: Tumoricidal Activity of Non-Traditional Antitumor Drugs.
abstract: Chemotherapy, a traditional method, plays an important role in tumor therapy. Currently, common clinical antitumor drugs have several defects like poor efficacy, side effects, etc. Furthermore, developing new antitumor drugs takes a long time and requires many resources. Recent studies have found that oldies are newbies for the oncologist, such as flavonoid, metformin, aspirin, etc. These non-traditional antitumor drugs (NTADs) are widely used in management of non-cancer diseases, which gained FDA approval for treatment of patients. Increasingly, studies about antitumor action of NTADs have attracted many researchers' interests. A giant amount of studies showed a decrease in cancer incidence in NTAD-treated patients. Several reports outlined a direct inhibitory effect of NTADs on cancer cell growth and antitumoral actions. This review summarized the research progress on antitumor effects of ten NTADs. Retrospective and meta-analyses of trials also showed that these NTADs had preventive effects against cancer in vitro and in vivo. These drugs represent a promising option for cancer treatment, which have clear benefits including clinical safety, obvious curative effect, and saving medical and health resources. Judged from previous reports, future studies will yield valuable data about the profitable effects of these drugs. With a better understanding of its mechanisms of antitumor activity, NTADs may become available for combination with chemotherapy or targeted therapy in clinic.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjiaxiang, Nanjing, 210009, China.
authors.forename: Fangrong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjiaxiang, Nanjing, 210009, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
authors.forename: Junling
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjiaxiang, Nanjing, 210009, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjiaxiang, Nanjing, 210009, China.
authors.forename: Yujie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, China Pharmaceutical University, 24 Tongjiaxiang, Nanjing, 210009, China. wangcpu209@cpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001241:Aspirin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008687:Metformin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005419:Flavonoids; D008687:Metformin; D001241:Aspirin
keywords: chemotherapy; non-traditional anticarcinogen; pharmacological action; tumoricidal activity