Panagiotis Paliogiannis, Sara Solveig Fois, Alessandro Giuseppe Fois, Antonio Cossu, Giuseppe Palmieri and Gianfranco Pintus* Pages 2234 - 2247 ( 14 )
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an aggressive pulmonary disease which shares several molecular, pathophysiological and clinical aspects with lung cancer, including high mortality rates. The antifibrotic drugs Nintedanib and Pirfenidone have recently been introduced in clinical practice for the treatment of IPF. Nintedanib is also used for the treatment of several malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in combination with Docetaxel, while Pirfenidone showed some anti-neoplastic effects in preclinical studies. On the other hand, novel targeted agents and immunotherapies have been introduced in the last decade for the treatment of NSCLC, and some of them showed anti-fibrotic properties in recent studies. These evidences, based on the common pathophysiological backgrounds of IPF and lung cancer, make possible the mutual or combined use of anti-fibrotic and anti-neoplastic drugs to treat these highly lethal diseases. The aim of the present review is to depict the current scientific landscape regarding the repurposing of anti-neoplastic drugs in IPF and anti-fibrotic drugs in lung cancer, and to identify future research perspectives on the topic.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, fibrosis, cancer, lung cancer, antifibrotic drug, anticancer drugs, drug repurposing, nintedanib, pirfenidone.
Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 07100 Sassari, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 07100 Sassari, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 07100 Sassari, Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro, 07100 Sassari, Unit of Cancer Genetics, Institute Biomolecular Chemistry, CNR, Traversa La Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences and Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, P.O. Box: 27272