Yu XN, Wu HT, Wu BX, Zhi SF, Lan YZ, Chen WJ, Liu J. Advances and challenges in drug repurposing in precision therapeutics of colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(7): 107681 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i7.107681]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jing Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, The Breast Center, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 7 Raoping Road, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China. jliu12@stu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Xin-Ning Yu, Yang-Zheng Lan, Wen-Jia Chen, Jing Liu, The Breast Center, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Hua-Tao Wu, Bing-Xuan Wu, Shu-Feng Zhi, Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Co-first authors: Xin-Ning Yu and Hua-Tao Wu.
Author contributions: Liu J and Yu XN designed this study; Yu XN and Wu HT performed literature review; Yu XN, Wu HT, Wu BX, Zhi SF, Lan YZ, Chen WJ and Liu J interpreted the results, structured the review, and prepared the tables; Yu XN and Wu HT prepared the draft of the manuscript; Yu XN, Wu HT and Wu BX prepared the figures; Liu J critically revised the manuscript; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82273457; the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 2023A1515012762; and Science and Technology Special Project of Guangdong Province, No. 210715216902829.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, The Breast Center, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 7 Raoping Road, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China. jliu12@stu.edu.cn
Received: March 28, 2025 Revised: April 21, 2025 Accepted: June 3, 2025 Published online: July 15, 2025 Processing time: 109 Days and 3.2 Hours
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the third most common cancer globally and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths, representing a significant health burden. Despite advancements in traditional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, these approaches still face challenges, including high costs, limited efficacy, and drug resistance. Drug repurposing has emerged as a promising strategy for CRC treatment, offering advantages with reduced development timelines, lower costs, and improved drug accessibility. This review explores drug repurposing strategies for CRC, supported by multidisciplinary technologies, and discusses the current challenges in the field.
Core Tip: Drug repurposing emerges as an essential strategy due to its advantages like shorter development timelines and lower costs. This review covers recent progress in repurposing traditional drugs and using high-throughput screening and artificial intelligence for colorectal cancers.
