Drug repurposing: search for targeted drug candidates in the treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer

Abstract

According to GLOBOCAN data, 2020, breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer-related mortalities worldwide, with HER2 positive breast cancer being very prevalent. The rising incidence of HER2 positive breast cancer has led to the search and development of targeted treatment strategies. The currently available targeted therapies have revolutionized treatment strategies. However, despite the remarkable progress in HER2 positive breast cancer management, challenges like drug resistance, and long-term side effects persist and need ongoing research attention. As such, drug repurposing could be a powerful strategy in the search for such compounds and thus enhancing the existing drug pool. Drug repurposing using computational biology was performed in the study, followed by analysis of the docking results, superimposition, assessing non-bonded protein-ligand interactions, and ADME properties were performed to propose potential candidates against HER2 positive breast cancer. Based on the results of this study, doxazosin was selected as a potential candidate to be further explored. Further studies such as MD simulation and biological assays will later need to be performed to validate the results of this study