The Role of Repurposed Drugs in Prostate Cancer Therapy

@doyourresearch, I encourage you to read the many posts shared in these related discussions:
- Firsthand Experience with Fenbendazole, Ivermectin, Lactoferrin?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/firsthand-experience-with-fenbendazole-ivermectin-lactoferrin/
- Ivermectin for Prostate Cancer? (Being studied) https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ivermectin-for-prostate-cancer/
- Mayo Clinic on use of ivermectin or other dewormers to treat cancer https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/about-connect/newsfeed-post/mayo-clinic-on-use-of-ivermectin-or-other-dewormers-to-treat-cancer/

@stage4lovolmetpc, you might be interested in Mayo Clinic's work with AI in prostate cancer care:
- Predicting prostate cancer recurrence through power of AI https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/earlier-more-personalized-follow-up-care-through-prostate-specific-antigen-psa-monitoring-supported-by-ai-powered-by-mayo-clinic-platform/
- How AI is improving care for advanced prostate cancer at Mayo Clinic https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/advanced-prostate-cancer/how-ai-is-improving-care-for-advanced-prostate-cancer-at-mayo-clinic/

@jeffmarc, good idea to clarify the definition of "repurposed drug"

From the FDA: "Drug repurposing refers to the identification of potential new uses – such as a new indication or a new population – of FDA-approved drugs, for which the new uses would be supported by safety and effectiveness data." https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-drugs/drug-repurposing

Further journal reading for those keen on this important topic:
- Drug repurposing: Clinical practices and regulatory pathways https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12048090/

There are always drugs being tested for prostate cancer. Many times a drug used for one thing is found to work on a different medical issue. If you look on ClinicalTrials.gov you will see many new drugs being tested.

"Numerous novel drugs and combination therapies are in clinical testing for prostate cancer, focusing on targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and advanced precision medicine. Key treatments in development include AKT inhibitors, PSMA-targeted radionuclide therapies, and CAR-T cell immunotherapies, which are designed to attack cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue"

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
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Recent and ongoing research highlights several major classes of drugs being tested and developed for prostate cancer:
AKT Inhibitors: Recently, the FDA approved capivasertib (Truqap) alongside standard hormone therapy (abiraterone) specifically for patients whose tumors are PTEN-deficient. Clinical testing for AKT inhibitors continues to see if these therapies can delay disease progression in earlier or different forms of advanced prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
+3
PARP Inhibitors: Drugs like olaparib and rucaparib target specific DNA repair mutations (such as BRCA gene changes). These are being tested in earlier stages of prostate cancer—including in localized disease and hormone-sensitive states—to see if combining them with standard therapies improves survival rates.

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
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PSMA-Targeted Radioligand Therapy: Therapies that deliver radiation directly to prostate cells expressing Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), such as lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan (Pluvicto), are being tested in earlier disease lines and in new combinations with immunotherapies to maximize their effectiveness.

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
+1
Immunotherapies: Clinical trials are actively investigating CAR-T cell therapy (where a patient's own immune cells are genetically reprogrammed to attack tumors) and checkpoint inhibitors to help the immune system recognize and destroy prostate cancer cells.

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
Next-Generation Hormone Therapies: Novel androgen receptor inhibitors, such as darolutamide and newer anti-androgen drugs, are continually being tested for efficacy in different settings, particularly for men with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) who do not wish to undergo chemotherapy.

Facing Hereditary Cancer Empowered
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Bipolar Androgen Therapy (BAT): This investigational approach cycles patients between very high and very low doses of testosterone to re-sensitize cancer tumors to standard hormone therapies.

Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
To explore ongoing clinical trials and see if you or a loved one might qualify for testing of these emerging drugs, utilize the National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Search to find specific studies. You can also consult the Prostate Cancer Foundation for detailed breakdowns of new treatment pipelines.

As a retired pharmacist, any medication, used for a condition other than what it was originally developed for, would qualify as being repurposed. So yes, the estrogen patch has been repurposed, it was never created with the intention of someday being used in the treatment of prostate cancer.

@callibaetis

Thanks so much for your valuable input .

@stage4lovolmetpc Hi there. I appreciate your input and perspective, thank you 🙂

I believe you are referencing the book "Fight Cancer Like A Man" by Dr. Stephen Petteruti. I think I paid $24-$25, somewhere in that range, but I just pulled it up on Amazon (which is where I purchased it) and the paperback is currently $19.99 and the Kindle version is $8.99. I highly recommend that book, if, for nothing else, to provide food for thought. His YouTube channel, Intellectual Medicine, is full of interesting video content. I do not know this Dr., nor have any affiliation with him, so absolutely no conflict of interest in recommending his work. He has an entire chapter on Repurposed Drug Therapy.

I want to be careful about copyright infringement, and, therefore, don't feel it's appropriate to reproduce his work in this forum. I did, however, provide a list of his repurposed drug list in another post, which I maybe shouldn't have done, but I did, so there's that.

That being said, I will, in the spirit of information sharing and discourse, mention one drug that he included in his book. It is Atorvastatin, which is customarily used for heart disease treatment and prevention. The info I will now provide is from the book, not from me personally.

He says, and I am summarizing here, one way statin drugs can help patients with prostate cancer is by blocking the mevalonate pathway. The mevalonate pathway produces sterols and isoprene, which are essential for tumor growth and progression. Cholesterol can also contribute to cancel cell proliferation by stimulating mTOR and other pathways that help promote cancer. Cancer cells have a higher cholesterol requirement than normal cells, and they divide faster than normal cells; therefore, they are more cholesterol dependent. Another possible way that statin drugs can help to prevent cancer progression is by supporting a process called ferroptosis.

A retrospective study published in Research and Reports in Urology in 2020 of 875 men who had already had a radical prostatectomy showed a 40% reduction in the risk of a biochemical recurrence.

Another possible mechanism of action is their ability to shut down mutated p53 proteins, which can accelerate cancer. Mutated forms of p53 have been found in nearly every type of human cancer.

He states in his practice, he is a functional medicine physician with over 30 years of experience, he rarely uses statins for their original purpose... heart disease treatment and prevention. He says there are some concerns that statins can lead to an increased risk of diabetes or potentially damage tendon and muscle connections, but, since they combine it with Metformin, the diabetes risk is diminished, and one must do a risk/benefit analysis with respect to the potential tendon and muscle damage. He lists possible side effects for all of the repurposed drugs he discusses in the book.

So, that information makes me curious to learn more. And what's fascinating about the universe in which we reside are the synchronicities that occur for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Cholesterol and cancer came up three different times, in three different ways, over a three day time period. The first was with his PCP who said his cholesterol is fine (even though his LDL is 111), because the overall ratio is fine. The second, unintended, was coming across a video on the Intellectual Medicine YouTube channel that covered this subject. The third was a newsletter from the leader of a prostate cancer support group that said he read an article about doctors specializing in urology and cardiology, and, while being experts in their fields, they don't realize how much the tests one orders (lipid panel or CRP for a cardiologist & PSA for a urologist) can show problems in the others' line of work. He states "prostate cancer cells over express LDL receptors to absorb cholesterol for growth fuel and to synthesize androgens inside the prostate tumor". He continues, "After a prostatectomy, higher HDL can be linked to lower risk of cancer recurrence. CRP - the inflammation marker your cardiologist watches closely has been linked to shorter survival in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients. The same things that damage arteries are often the same ones feeding prostate cancer".

So, based on all of the above, am I going to research this? You bet I am.

One other note for now. I learned from a Nurse Practitioner in the Palliative Care space that American Ginseng, 2,000 mg by mouth daily, can help with cancer-related fatigue. It can take up to 8 weeks to work. Were you aware of this? This is based on studies by the Mayo Clinic. The only caveat she expressed is a 1% increase in potential bleeding risk for individuals on prescription blood thinners, such as Eliquis. As with anything, people should research this for themselves, and consult with their doctor/pharmacist before incorporating into their health regimen.

Pretty much everyone I know is fatigued, regardless of whether they've had a cancer diagnosis or not, so why isn't this common knowledge? Can you imagine if all the synthetic "energy boosters" could be replaced with a God-given plant root for the majority of people? I'd say that would be a little bit of heaven on earth!

Tomorrow I'll respond to the questions you posed in your post. I kind of went off on a tangent here, 😉

@surftohealth88 Metformin is another one, especially when combined with doxycycline, but it is NOT endorsed by medical professionals as a treatment for PCa.
There is always the hope - and possibility - that a cancer drug which failed to halt, let’s say, pancreatic or brain cancer, is found to arrest certain prostate cancers.
This is where AI could really shine: sifting through hundreds of thousands of patients in different drug protocols and cataloging certain treatment outcomes and beneficial SE’s that were never even considered at the start.
It’s not classical research - but who cares?
Phil

I know this will stir/fire up some, but there is an alternative.
It has been tried and tested for a long time.
A company (I will not name) created a bastardized version with bad substances, so it was taken off the market.
It is maligned, demonized and misrepresented.
There is a supplier in the US now.
I am not saying you should try it, but if you've done everything else....surgery, radiation, chemo, ADT, etc.
and it comes back, or you want an alternative to barbaric 'treatments/cures' why not?
I'm expecting many negative comments, all I ask is to be kind and keep an open mind.
It is a TCM traditional Chinese Medicine herbal combo, has a proven record, with IN VIVO trials, with minimal side effects and effect on quality of life. Not many other 'treatments' can claim that.
https://www.pcspes.org/

Two replies have asked you to provide the names of the specific drugs that you are referencing as "repurposed", but you have not done so.

Please do so, as I am also interested.