An Overview of Novel Agents for Cervical Cancer Treatment by Inducing Apoptosis: Emerging Drugs Ongoing Clinical Trials and Preclinical Studies

Abstract

As the leading cause of cancer death, cervical cancer ranks fourth for both incidence and mortality. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates have reportedly decreased over the last decades thanks to extensive screening and widespread vaccination against human papilloma virus. However, there have been no major improvements concerning platinum-based chemotherapy on the survival of advanced cervical cancer. Thus, novel agents are urgently needed for the improvement of therapeutic effect. With the development of molecular biology and genomics, targeted therapy research has achieved a breakthrough development, including anti-angiogenesis, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other treatments that are efficient for treatment of cervical cancer. Apoptosis is a crucial process for tumor progression. Drugs directed at inducing tumor-cell apoptosis are regarded as important treatment modalities. Besides, a number of novel compounds synthesized or derived from plants or microorganisms exhibited prominent anti-cancer activity by changing the apoptotic balance in cervical cancer. In this review, we summarized new target therapy drugs ongoing clinical trials that are used for treatment of cervical cancer. Further, we classified novel agents with a focus on improvement of therapeutic effect pre-clinically. To summarize, we also discussed application prospects of the new uses of old drugs and drug combinations, to provide researchers with new ideas for cervical cancer treatment.

Aberrant expression of claudin‐6 contributes to malignant potentials and drug resistance of cervical adenocarcinoma

“…Cervical ADCs are known to frequently develop resistance to anticancer drugs, including the first‐line therapeutic drug cisplatin 52 . Interestingly, we found that CLDN6 overexpression increased viability of cervical ADC cells under the condition of exposure to anticancer drugs including cisplatin (Figure 5), suggesting that aberrant CLDN6 expression plays a role in the development of multidrug resistance of cervical ADC cells.…”

“…Cervical ADCs are known to frequently develop resistance to anticancer drugs, including the first‐line therapeutic drug cisplatin. 52 Interestingly, we found that CLDN6 overexpression increased viability of cervical ADC cells under the condition of exposure to anticancer drugs including cisplatin (Figure 5 ), suggesting that aberrant CLDN6 expression plays a role in the development of multidrug resistance of cervical ADC cells. In general, chemoresistance development is due mainly to “resistance to cell death” and/or “resistance to the drug itself” (ie, decreased drug uptake, increased drug efflux, and detoxification of the drug).…”

Exploration of biomarkers for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of cervical cancer: a review

“…Early detection of disease is extremely important due to the availability of various treatment options which make CC curable [ 8 ]. The treatment options available for CC are surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or in a combination, which may cause various side effects and no cure[ 9 , 10 ]. The poorer prognosis and ineffective treatment in the advance stage of CC necessitate the development of new prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies [ 11 , 12 ].…”

LncRNA FLVCR1-AS1 mediates miR-23a-5p/SLC7A11 axis to promote malignant behavior of cervical cancer cells

“…Nevertheless, these traditional therapy methods are unable to effectively cure CC, and infiltration, metastasis, and recurrence remain the crucial reason of death [ 3 ]. As the development of molecular biology and genomics, molecular targeted treatment has achieved breakthrough in the cure of cancer [ 4 ]. Studies have manifested molecular targeted therapy distinctly influences the cell advancement with recurrence in CC with few side effects [ 5 ].…”