BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

OutFOXing tumors

July 19, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

A Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University team has found a new use for the dopamine receptor antagonist trifluoperazine: restoring the sensitivity of tumors to epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors.1 The key is trifluoperazine's off-target activity related to the export of the tumor suppressor forkhead box O1, which suggests other drugs in the class also could be repurposed to treat resistant cancers.

Although epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors are a mainstay for treating lung cancers, the drugs are limited by primary or acquired drug resistance that can arise through multiple molecular mechanisms.2-4...