Combination therapy in combating cancer.

Combination therapy in combating cancer.

Oncotarget. 2017 Mar 30;:

Authors: Mokhtari RB, Homayouni TS, Baluch N, Morgatskaya E, Kumar S, Das B, Yeger H

Abstract
Combination therapy, a treatment modality that combines two or more therapeutic agents, is a cornerstone of cancer therapy. The amalgamation of anti-cancer drugs enhances efficacy compared to the monotherapy approach because it characteristically targets key pathways with a synergistic or an additive effect. This approach potentially reduces drug-resistance, while simultaneously producing therapeutic anti-cancer benefits, such as reducing tumor growth and metastatic potential, arresting cells in cell cycle, reducing cancer stem cell populations, and inducing apoptosis. The 5-year survival rates for most metastatic cancer diseases are still quite low, and the process of developing a new anti-cancer drug is costly and extremely time consuming. Therefore, new strategies that target the survival pathways while providing efficient and effective results, as well as affordability, are being considered. One such approach incorporates repurposing therapeutic agents initially used for the treatment of different diseases other than cancer. This approach is effective primarily when the FDA-approved agent targets similar pathways found in cancer. Because one of the drugs used in combination therapy is already FDA approved, overall costs of combination therapy research are reduced. This increases cost efficiency of therapy thereby benefiting the "medically underserved". In addition, an approach that combines repurposed pharmaceutical agents with other therapeutics has shown promising results in mitigating tumor burden. In this systematic review, we discuss important pathways commonly targeted in cancer therapy. Further, we also review important and common therapeutic agents, either repurposed or primary anti-cancer agents that have gained popularity in clinical trials and research since 2012.

PMID: 28410237 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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