Cancer Science & Therapy

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of FSRT and conventional radiotherapy with or without WBRT on OS and short-term outcome of lung cancer patients with brain metastases. 92 patients were involved the study. All the brain MR images were fusioned under the Pinnacle system, then they received local conventional radiotherapy (1.8- 2.0 Gy/F) or FSRT (2.5-4 Gy/F), with or without WBRT, according to the size and number of brain lesions. The OS of all patients was 2 to 33 months with the median survival 15 months. GPA (P=0.050), pathological type (P=0.012), oral targeted drugs (P=0.016), number of BM (P=0.002), radiotherapy technique (P=0.001), radiotherapy dose (P=0.031) and short-term outcome (P=0.002) were the influencing factors of OS. And local radiotherapy was better than local + WBRT than WBRT (P=0.001), FSRT significantly better than conventional radiotherapy (P=0.001). Hierarchical analysis displayed that local radiotherapy was better than local + WBRT than WBRT for those who hadn’t received targeted therapy (P=0.001). For SCLC, local + WBRT was better than WBRT (P=0.003) and for NSCLC FSRT was better than conventional radiotherapy (P=0.024. For patients with lower GPA (≤ 1.5), local radiotherapy was better than local + WBRT than WBRT (P=0.033). The CR rate of the whole group was 6.5%, with PR rate 78.3%. Logistic regression showed that FSRT was more likely to have CR and PR probability (P=0.009). For lung cancer patients with brain metastases, FSRT was superior to conventional radiotherapy, which could improve short-term outcome and extend OS. Local radiotherapy was better than local + WBRT than WBRT.

The amount spent on cancer medication has doubled in the last five years. With the average cost of a new drug released in the market being $100,000 in 2017, it is no surprise that the costs for cancer treatment are exorbitant. Even the newer cancer medications are not always successful. Hence there is a need to find chemotherapeutic agents which are more economical and attainable to patients. Repurposing drugs from other non-cancer treatments may prove to be the fastest and most affordable choice. Medications from non-cancer treatments may have secondary targets which can be exploited for the treatment of cancer. This review focusses on four different classes of drugs for the treatment of lung cancer: antibiotics, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and anti-parasitic. Candidates from each of these classes are chosen through computational and bioinformatic methods by analyzing the modes of action and determining their secondary targets. The scope of drug repurposing and their use in lung cancer therapy is discussed in this article.