Positive Inotropic Agents in Cancer Therapy: Exploring Potential Anti-Tumor Effects

Abstract

Cancer remains a significant global health challenge despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment. Traditional cancer therapies often face limitations such as toxicity and drug resistance. Drug repurposing has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome these challenges by identifying new therapeutic uses for existing drugs. This review explores the potential of repurposing positive inotropic agents, which are traditionally used in cardiovascular medicine, for cancer therapy. Positive inotropic agents, including cardiac glycosides, β-agonists, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and calcium sensitizers have shown preclinical evidence of anti-tumor activity through various mechanisms, such as modulation of the intracellular signaling pathways, increasing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels, the production of nitric oxide, and decreasing reactive oxygen species levels. Despite the absence of specific clinical trials in this area, these findings suggest a promising avenue for further research and development of combination therapies to improve cancer treatment outcomes. However, challenges such as elucidating specific anti-tumor mechanisms, identifying predictive biomarkers, and optimizing safety profiles need to be addressed to fully realize the therapeutic potential of positive inotropic agents in oncology.