Table 2 Antibiotics, antifungals, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory as potential drug candidate against cancer
Class of Drug | Name of drug | Structure | Type of cancer to be used | Mechanism | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antibiotics | Sulfisoxazole |
| Breast cancer | Interfering with endothelin receptor A to stop breast cancer cells from exuding tiny extracellular vesicles | [154] |
Azithromycin |
| Colon cancer | ↑TNF-α-related apoptosis ↑TRAIL ↑DR4/5 ↓Autophagy | [155] | |
Doxycycline |
| Osteosarcoma, prostate carcinoma, myeloid and colon cancer | In myeloid and colon cancer, it prevents permeation by lowering MMP-2 and MMP-9 | [166] | |
Anthracycline |
| Endometrial, breast, bladder, hepatic, thyroid, and pulmonary malignancies | Attaches to DNA, causing it to get alkylated, which stops the cell cycle | [182] | |
Antifungals | Itraconazole |
| Non-small cell lung cancer | By eliminating lipids from the plasma membrane, it decreases AKT1 activity, which inhibits its downstream target mTOR, resulting in mortality and growth slowering | [188] |
Rapamycin |
| Breast cancer | It promotes intracellular autophagy and boosts the function of Atg7 and DAPK via transcriptional activation | [196] | |
Griseofulvin |
| Colorectal and cervical cancers | Affects microtubule assembly in MCF-7 cells, causing programmed cell death ↑Cell cycle arrest | ||
Clotrimazole |
| Breast, colon and pulmonary cancer | Blockes actin polymerization and activates glycolytic inflow | [203] | |
Ciclopirox |
| Breast, colorectal cancer rhabdomyosarcoma | ↓CDC–CDK, ↓Bcl-XL ↑Caspase-dependent cascade causing apoptotic cell death | ||
Nannocystin A |
| Colorectal and breast cancer cells | Target eukaryotic elongation factor 1 in proteome investigations | ||
NSAIDS drugs | Aspirin |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | Affects P4HA2 by suppressing NF-κB and LMCD1-AS1/let-7g of Aspirin prevents tumour growth and accumulation of collagen | |
Ibuprofen |
| Adenocarcinoma | Modulates the expression levels of cancer-related genes Akt, P53, PCNA, Bax, and Bcl2 | [228] | |
Naproxen |
| bladder carcinoma | ↑Cell arrest ↑Cancer cells death ↑PI3K | [233] | |
Diclofenac |
| Ovarian cancer | ↑Apoptotic cell death ↓SOD2 ↓Proportion of free radicals | ||
Celecoxib |
| Bladder cancer | Blocks epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation ↓miRNA-145/TGFBR2/Smad3 axis | [250] | |
Indomethacin |
| Colon cancer | ↓Cancer cell proliferation ↓PKC-p38-DRP1 ↓Wnt/-βcatenin signalling, to effectively target MAPK mechanisms | ||
Thiocolchicoside |
| Leukaemia, lymphoma, and squamous cell carcinoma | Blocks the receptor stimulator NF-kB ligand ↓NF-kB signalling cascade ↓Cancer-induced bone metastasis | ||
Artemisinin |
| Breast cancer | Deactivates cancer-related fibroblasts and decreases CAFs mediating growth and metastases by suppressing TGF-β signalling | [315] | |
Artesunate |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | ↑Pro-apoptotic proteins ↑caspases ↓MYC oncogene ↓Anti-apoptotic proteins | ||
Dihydroartemisinin |
| Ovarian cancer | ↓Cancer cell development ↓Metastases by addressing the platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha (PDGFR) | [316] | |
Mebendazole |
| Melanoma | ↑Apoptotic cell death ↑Caspases ↑Bcl-2 ↓Repressor of apoptosis X-linked blocker of apoptosis (XIAP) | ||
Chloroquine |
| Metastatic tumors | Par-4-dependent suppression, mediates p53- and Rab8b-based Par-4 production to promote tumour cell death | [279] | |
Pyrimethamine |
| Non-small cell lung cancer | ↓EMT ↓Invasion ↓Cancer cells growth, ↓Metastases by interacting with dihydrofolate reductase and thymidine phosphorylase | ||
Quinacrine |
| Renal cancer | Facilitates chromatin transcription (FACT) protein complex, which seems to be trapped on chromatin and induces CK2-induced phosphorylation of p53, responsible for quinacrine-mediated p53 transcription |
