In silico drug repositioning – what we need to know

Drug repositioning, exemplified by sildenafil and thalidomide, is a promising way to explore alternative indications for existing drugs. Recent research has shown that bioinformatics-based approaches have the potential to offer systematic insights into the complex relationships among drugs, targets and diseases necessary for successful repositioning. In this article, we propose the key bioinformatics steps essential for discovering valuable repositioning methods. The proposed steps (repurposing with a purpose, repurposing with a strategy and repurposing with confidence) are aimed at providing a repurposing pipeline, with particular focus on the proposed Drugs of New Indications (DNI) database, which can be used alongside currently available resources to improve in silico drug repositioning.

► A three-step in silico drug repositioning was proposed, including repurposing with a purpose, repurposing with a strategy, and repurposing with confidence. ► The objectives and (bioinformatics) approaches associated with each step were discussed. ► Network modeling based target-driven repurposing, genome-wide analysis and text mining represents the mainstream of bioinformatics strategy for in silico repurposing. ► The need of a ‘basic truth’ database for in silico repositioning was emphasized, and the Drug of New Indication (DNI) database was proposed for that purpose.