Title:Multilevel Pharmacological Effects of Antipsychotics in Potential Glioblastoma
Treatment
Volume: 23
Issue: 5
Author(s): Wireko Andrew Awuah*, Jacob Kalmanovich, Aashna Mehta, Helen Huang, Toufik Abdul-Rahman, Jyi Cheng Ng, Rohan Yarlagadda, Karl Kamanousa, Mrinmoy Kundu, Esther Patience Nansubuga, Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Mykola Lyndin, Arda Isik, Vladyslav Sikora and Athanasios Alexiou*
Affiliation:
- Department of Medical Sciences, Sumy State University, Sumy, Ukraine
- Department of Science and Engineering, Novel Global Community Educational Foundation, Hebersham, NSW 2770, Australia
- AFNP Med, 1030 Wien, Austria
Keywords:
Antipsychotics, Polypharmacology, Glioblastoma multiforme, Temozolomide, Bevacizumab, Brain cancer.
Abstract: Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a debilitating type of brain cancer with a high mortality
rate. Despite current treatment options such as surgery, radiotherapy, and the use of temozolomide
and bevacizumab, it is considered incurable. Various methods, such as drug repositioning,
have been used to increase the number of available treatments. Drug repositioning is the use of
FDA-approved drugs to treat other diseases. This is possible because the drugs used for this purpose
have polypharmacological effects. This means that these medications can bind to multiple targets,
resulting in multiple mechanisms of action. Antipsychotics are one type of drug used to treat GBM.
Antipsychotics are a broad class of drugs that can be further subdivided into typical and atypical
classes. Typical antipsychotics include chlorpromazine, trifluoperazine, and pimozide. This class of
antipsychotics was developed early on and primarily works on dopamine D2 receptors, though it
can also work on others. Olanzapine and Quetiapine are examples of atypical antipsychotics, a category
that was created later. These medications have a high affinity for serotonin receptors such as 5-
HT2, but they can also act on dopamine and H1 receptors. Antipsychotic medications, in the case of
GBM, also have other effects that can affect multiple pathways due to their polypharmacological
effects. These include NF-B suppression, cyclin deregulation, and -catenin phosphorylation, among
others. This review will delve deeper into the polypharmacological, the multiple effects of antipsychotics
in the treatment of GBM, and an outlook for the field's future progression.