Fighting New Wars with old Weapons: Repurposing of Anti-Malarial Drug for Anticancer Therapy

Quinacrine (QC), an attractive anticancer drug, has been forwarded for clinical evaluation in various cancer types due to its tremendous safety data accumulated since World War II. Its shotgun nature makes it unmissable as a chemotherapy drug that traps and activates multiple pathways.

Recently, QC has been shown to block malignancy by affecting pathways, including RHO signaling, G1/S arrest, ROS emission, and cell death through autophagy. In this review, we have extensively studied QC as an anticancer agent that affects various signaling pathways. We have documented activity via WNT, NOTCH, HEDGEHOG, MAPK, EGFR, P53, RHO, AKT, NF-k and TGF pathways and reformed the already established mode of action of QC.

QC’s effects on multiple key signaling pathways, implicated in the malignant progression of numerous cancer types, make it an exciting candidate as a chemotherapeutic agent for new combination treatments and therapies.