Itraconazole Targets Cell Cycle Heterogeneity in Colorectal Cancer

This is not the first article to document the potential efficacy of the antifungal agent, itraconazole. Multiple studies have shown that itraconazole inhibits cancer, not only through WNT inhibition, but also, through reversing MDR (multidrug resistance gene), inhibiting the Hedgehog pathway, and inhibiting angiogenesis. Human data have been published using itraconazole with prostate cancer, NSC lung cancer, triple neg breast cancer, ovarian cancer, as well as other cancers.

I refer physicians to the following article, “Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO)—itraconazole as an anti-cancer agent.” There are many drugs that have other FDA-approved indications that can and should be repurposed for use in cancer. I have personally used itraconazole in a patient with stage III NSC lung cancer who refused chemotherapy; he remained without progression of disease for 1.5 years, until he died of a drug overdose.