Repurposing the anti-malarial drug, quinacrine: new anti-colitis properties

Alexander A. Chumanevich; Erin E. Witalison; Anusha Chaparala; Anastasiya Chumanevich; Prakash Nagarkatti; Mitzi Nagarkatti; Lorne J. Hofseth

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.10608

Oncotarget

Oncotarget (a primarily oncology-focused, peer-reviewed, open access journal) aims to maximize research impact through insightful peer-review; eliminate borders between specialties by linking different fields of oncology, cancer research and biomedical sciences; and foster application of basic and clinical science.

Its scope is unique. The term "oncotarget" encompasses all molecules, pathways, cellular functions, cell types, and even tissues that can be viewed as targets relevant to cancer as well as other diseases. The term was introduced in the inaugural Editorial, Introducing Oncotarget.

As of January 1, 2022, Oncotarget has shifted to a continuous publishing model. Papers will now be published continuously within yearly volumes in their final and complete form and then quickly released to Pubmed.

Subscribe to receive alerts once a paper has been published by Oncotarget.

Impact Journals, LLC is the publisher of Oncotarget: www.impactjournals.com.

Impact Journals is a member of the Wellcome Trust List of Compliant Publishers.

Impact Journals is a member of the Society for Scholarly Publishing.

On December 23, 2022, Oncotarget server experienced a DDoS attack. As a result, Oncotarget site was inaccessible for a few hours. Oncotarget team swiftly dealt with the situation and took it under control. This malicious action will be reported to the FBI.

Research Papers:

Repurposing the anti-malarial drug, quinacrine: new anti-colitis properties

Alexander A. Chumanevich, Erin E. Witalison, Anusha Chaparala, Anastasiya Chumanevich, Prakash Nagarkatti, Mitzi Nagarkatti and Lorne J. Hofseth _

PDF | HTML | How to cite

Oncotarget. 2016; 7:52928-52939. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.10608

Metrics: PDF 1766 views | HTML 2782 views | ?

Abstract

Alexander A. Chumanevich1, Erin E. Witalison1, Anusha Chaparala1, Anastasiya Chumanevich1, Prakash Nagarkatti2, Mitzi Nagarkatti2 and Lorne J. Hofseth1

1 Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, South Carolina College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

2 School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

Correspondence to:

Lorne J. Hofseth, email:

Keywords: quinacrine, colitis, inflammation, dextran sulfate sodium, oxazolone

Received: June 08, 2016 Accepted: June 15, 2016 Published: July 14, 2016

Abstract

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in 8-10 years after disease onset. Current colitis treatment strategies do not offer a cure for the disease, but only treat the symptoms with limited success and dangerous side-effects. Also, there is no preventive treatment for either UC or colorectal cancer. Quinacrine is an anti-malarial drug with versatile use in the treatment of diseases involving inflammatory response such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. It also has putative anti-cancer effect. Quinacrine’s anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties, and anti-tumorigenic properties make it a potential small molecule preventive agent for both UC and associated colorectal cancer.

Results: There were obvious changes in the CDI, histology, and inflammatory load in quinacrine-treated groups in a dose and time dependent manner in both models of UC, induced by chemical or haptenating agent.

Methods: We tested quinacrine at two different doses as a colitis treatment agent in two mouse models of UC - the dextran sulfate sodium and oxazolone. The clinical disease index (CDI), histological changes of the colon, levels of inflammatory markers (Cox-2, iNOS, p53) and overall health vitals were evaluated.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that quinacrine successfully suppresses colitis without any indication of toxicity or side-effects in two mouse models of UC.

All site content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PII: 10608

Publication Alerts

Research Papers:

Repurposing the anti-malarial drug, quinacrine: new anti-colitis properties

Abstract