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Review
. 2022 May;42(3):1111-1146.
doi: 10.1002/med.21872. Epub 2021 Dec 1.

Upgrade of an old drug: Auranofin in innovative cancer therapies to overcome drug resistance and to increase drug effectiveness

Affiliations
Review

Upgrade of an old drug: Auranofin in innovative cancer therapies to overcome drug resistance and to increase drug effectiveness

Tania Gamberi et al. Med Res Rev. 2022 May.

Abstract

Auranofin is an oral gold(I) compound, initially developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, Auranofin is under investigation for oncological application within a drug repurposing plan due to the relevant antineoplastic activity observed both in vitro and in vivo tumor models. In this review, we analysed studies in which Auranofin was used as a single drug or in combination with other molecules to enhance their anticancer activity or to overcome chemoresistance. The analysis of different targets/pathways affected by this drug in different cancer types has allowed us to highlight several interesting targets and effects of Auranofin besides the already well-known inhibition of thioredoxin reductase. Among these targets, inhibitory-κB kinase, deubiquitinates, protein kinase C iota have been frequently suggested. To rationalize the effects of Auranofin by a system biology-like approach, we exploited transcriptomic data obtained from a wide range of cell models, extrapolating the data deposited in the Connectivity Maps website and we attempted to provide a general conclusion and discussed the major points that need further investigation.

Keywords: Auranofin; NF-kB inhibition; cancer; drug resistance; proteasome inhibition; thioredoxin reductase inhibition.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of Auranofin
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Output of the connectivity map of AF realized with the transcriptomic data of nine cancer cell lines exposed to 10 µM of AF for 6 h. The median tau score is calculated from the tau score of each cell line. Only the “perturbagene” classes with tau score greater than 90 were reported. (B) Hierarchical clustering of the transcription profiles of A549 and MCF7 cell lines exposed to different AF concentrations together with the transcription profile of TrxR1‐silenced cells. (C) Hierarchical clustering of the transcription profiles of 45 cancer cell lines exposed to 10 µM of AF for 6 h. AF, Auranofin [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of the main targets and the main signaling pathways affected by auranofin [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

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