About this Research Topic
Possible candidates for drug repurposing are phenothiazine derivatives. Phenothiazines have been used mainly in psychopharmacology and it has been shown that phenothiazine derivatives possess potent antitumor activity. Several research groups have proven cytotoxic, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic properties of phenothiazines toward different types of cancer. Moreover, phenothiazines exhibit sedative and antiemetic properties useful in the treatment of cancers, metastases, and chemotherapy side effects.
Despite the growing evidence on the effects of phenothiazines on cell viability, DNA fragmentation, apoptosis, calls migration and invasiveness, and ROS productions, only few animal studies showed that the drugs inhibit the growth of various tumors in vivo. In addition, some reports suggest serious side effects in patients taking phenothiazines.
A detailed study of the mechanisms of action of phenothiazine is therefore essential to understand all the properties and possible side effects of these drugs. It will improve the efficacy of cancer treatment with fewer side effects and the quality of life in patients.
This Research Topic is focused on discussing the future role of phenothiazine derivatives in cancer treatment. We welcome Original Research Articles and Review Articles able to shed light on the molecular mechanism of anticancer activity of phenothiazine derivatives and possible strategies to interfere with
these processes. Topics of interest are, but are not limited to:
- clinical use of phenothiazines, such as chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, perphenazine, promazine, prochlorperazine, trifluoperazine, and thioridazine, or even new synthesized phenothiazine derivatives
- in vitro and in vivo studies using phenothiazines investigating the precise molecular mechanisms accounting for their antitumor effects
- comparisons of in vitro results with normal human cell lines and/or in vivo studies
- Pre-clinical and clinical studies of possible side effects of using phenothiazines as anti-cancer drugs.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Keywords: phenothiazine derivatives, drug repurposing, anticancer activity, in vivo studies, cellular migration, cell invasion, antioxidant status, apoptosis
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