Targeting ion channels for cancer therapy by repurposing the approved drugs

• Ion channels play a key role in the hallmarks of cancer.
• Repurposing the approved drugs as cancer therapeutics offers several benefits.
• We discuss the plausibility of repurposing the drugs as ion channel inhibitors.

Ion channels have been shown to be involved in oncogenesis and efforts are being poured in to target the ion channels. There are many clinically approved drugs with ion channels as “off” targets. The question is, can these drugs be repurposed to inhibit ion channels for cancer treatment? Repurposing of drugs will not only save investors' money but also result in safer drugs for cancer patients. Advanced bioinformatics techniques and availability of a plethora of open access data on FDA approved drugs for various indications and omics data of large number of cancer types give a ray of hope to look for possibility of repurposing those drugs for cancer treatment. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Membrane channels and transporters in cancers.

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