Cancer

In silico, cell culture and mouse studies suggest digoxin could help treat group 3 or 4 medulloblastoma. In silico screening of 1,309 FDA-approved small molecule drugs for compounds predicted to modulate highly active pathways in group 3 or 4 medulloblastoma, followed by testing of the top 100 hits in a human group 3 medulloblastoma cell line, yielded digoxin as an inhibitor of cancer cell proliferation (IC₅₀ value of 106 nM). In orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models of group 3 and group 4 medulloblastoma, digoxin increased tumor levels of apoptotic markers and survival compared with no treatment. In the group 3 PDX model, digoxin plus craniospinal irradiation increased survival compared with radiation alone. Next steps could include identifying digoxin’s molecular target in medulloblastoma...