Drug repurposing has emerged as an innovative and cost-effective strategy in oncology, addressing the critical challenge of drug resistance in cancer. This approach identifies new therapeutic applications for existing drugs, significantly reducing the time, cost, and risk associated with drug development compared to de novo drug discovery.

One of the major hurdles in cancer treatment is the rapid molecular evolution and heterogeneity of tumors, which often render conventional therapies ineffective over time. Tumors adapt by developing resistance mechanisms, leading to treatment failure and disease progression. Recent advances have highlighted the potential of combinatorial drug treatments, where multiple drugs are used together to target different pathways or mechanisms, thereby overcoming resistance and improving therapeutic outcomes.
Despite the promise of this approach, there is an urgent need to expand the pool of drugs available for such combinations, including repurposed drugs with known safety profiles. Additionally, while some combinatorial strategies have shown success, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying their synergistic effects. Addressing these gaps is crucial for optimizing drug combinations and predicting patient responses.

The drug repurposing research community also faces challenges such as limited access to comprehensive drug databases, regulatory hurdles, and the need for robust preclinical and clinical validation. Bridging these gaps will not only advance cancer treatment but also accelerate the development of innovative therapeutic strategies to address drug resistance and improve patient outcomes.

This research topic aims to explore the potential of repurposed drugs in combinatorial treatments to combat drug resistance in cancer. The main objectives include investigating the molecular mechanisms, effects, and efficiency of these treatments, as well as addressing the challenges and proposing innovative solutions for drug development in cancer. By focusing on these areas, the research seeks to provide new insights and contribute valuable information to the existing body of knowledge.

To gather further insights in the application of repurposed drugs in cancer treatment, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Treatment approaches that specifically target or reduce drug resistance.
- Computational approaches such as signature matching, molecular docking, pathways, and network analysis.
- Molecular mechanisms of combination treatments and therapies in cancer.
- Signature matching providing a new approach to leverage drug-induced expression profiles, involving transcriptomic, proteomic, or metabolomic data.
- Pathway mapping: pathway-based approaches to identify drugs or drug targets.
- Retrospective clinical analysis as an approach to analyze clinical data.
- Genetic association and phenotypic screening to determine the effect of genetic variants on expression.
- Binding assays to identify relevant target interactions.
- Recent advances in single-cell analysis and 3D bioprinting within the field of drug repurposing.

Please note: studies consisting solely of bioinformatic investigation of publicly available genomic/transcriptomic/proteomic data do not fall within the scope of the section unless they are expanded and provide significant biological or mechanistic insight into the process being studied.

We accept different article types including Mini-Reviews, Brief Research Reports and Perspectives. A full list of accepted article types, including descriptions, can be found at this link.

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Adapting Drug Repurposing to Drug Resistance in Cancer Volume II: Developing Synergistic Combinations