Existing Drug Repurposing for Glioblastoma to Discover Candidate Drugs as a New a Approach

Aims: Repurposing of drugs has been hypothesized as a means of identifying novel treatment methods for certain diseases. Background: Glioblastoma (GB) is an aggressive type of human cancer; the most effective treatment for glioblastoma is chemotherapy, whereas, when repurposing drugs, a lot of time and money can be saved. Objective: Repurposing of the existing drug may be used to discover candidate drugs for individualized treatments of GB. Methods: We used the bioinformatics method to obtain the candidate drugs. In addition, the drugs were verified by MTT assay, Transwell® assays, TUNEL staining, and in vivo tumor formation experiments, as well as statistical analysis. Results: We obtained 4 candidate drugs suitable for the treatment of glioma, camptothecin, doxorubicin, daunorubicin and mitoxantrone, by the expression spectrum data IPAS algorithm analysis and drug-pathway connectivity analysis. These validation experiments showed that camptothecin was more effective in treating the GB, such as MTT assay, Transwell® assays, TUNEL staining, and in vivo tumor formation. Conclusion: With regard to personalized treatment, this present study may be used to guide the research of new drugs via verification experiments and tumor formation. The present study also provides a guide to systematic, individualized drug discovery for complex diseases and may contribute to the future application of individualized treatments.