科学家对硝酸甘油再利用 用作抗癌疗法制剂

  近一个世纪以来，硝酸甘油一直被用作医学领域，尤其是治疗咽痛或胸痛，其是一种安全、便宜且有效的治疗措施，如今刊登在ecancermedicalscience杂志上的一项研究报告中，来自国外的研究人员发现，硝酸甘油或许可以被重新定向来用于治疗癌症。
  由比利时等多国研究者发起的肿瘤学药物再利用研究计划旨在利用当前已经被广泛使用的非癌症药物进行研究来发现其治疗癌症的新潜力。治疗很多癌症的疗法都相继失败，这或许归咎于肿瘤处于缺氧环境中，或肿瘤环境中缺氧让多种疗法很难杀灭肿瘤细胞。
  研究者Sukhatme表示，利用改善肿瘤氧合作用的干预疗法或许可以有效改善放疗及化疗治疗癌症的效果，而硝酸甘油就是这样一种制剂，其具有立即可用、廉价且相对无毒的特性，而且硝酸甘油也是一种老药，其会带来多种活性机制，因此对患者的潜在效益不可忽视。为了解决肿瘤的缺氧，硝酸甘油也具有一定的潜力来改善抗癌药物的运输，其中值得一提的就是硝酸甘油本身也是一种运输工具，比如皮肤贴片，其可以帮助患者在不使用药物片剂或静脉内药物注射的条件有效改善患者的疾病症状。
  在100年前，科学家们以硝酸甘油为基础来发明炸药，而如今科学家们主要聚焦研究硝酸甘油在医学上的作用，其或许可以作为一种潜在的抗癌制剂来帮助治疗多种人类癌症。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）
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转化医学网推荐的原文摘要：

Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO)—nitroglycerin as an anti-cancer agent
Ecancermedicalscience     DOI: 10.3332/ecancer.2015.568
Vidula Sukhatme1, §*, Gauthier Bouche2, Lydie Meheus2, Vikas P Sukhatme1, 3 and Pan Pantziarka2, 4, §*
Nitroglycerin (NTG), a drug that has been in clinical use for more than a century, has a range of actions which make it of particular interest in an oncological setting. It is generally accepted that the main mechanism of action of NTG is via the production of nitric oxide (NO), which improves cardiac oxygenation via multiple mechanisms including improved blood flow (vasodilation), decreased platelet aggregation, increased erythrocyte O2 release and decreased mitochondrial utilization of oxygen. Its vasoactive properties mean that it has the potential to exploit more fully the enhanced permeability and retention effect in delivering anti-cancer drugs to tumour tissues. Moreover NTG can reduce HIF-1α levels in hypoxic tumour tissues and this may have anti-angiogenic, pro-apoptotic and anti-efflux effects. Additionally NTG may enhance anti-tumour immunity. Pre-clinical and clinical data on these anti-cancer properties of NTG are summarised and discussed. While there is evidence of a positive action as a monotherapy in prostate cancer, there are mixed results in NSCLC where initially positive results have yet to be fully replicated. Based on the evidence presented, a case is made that further exploration of the clinical benefits that may accrue to cancer patients is warranted. Additionally, it is proposed that NTG may synergise with a number of other drugs, including other repurposed drugs, and these are discussed in the supplementary material appended to this paper.