While majority of the current treatment approaches for cancer remain expensive and are associated with several side effects, development of new treatment modalities takes a significant period of research, time, and expenditure. An alternative novel approach is drug repurposing that focuses on finding new applications for the previously clinically approved drugs. The process of drug repurposing has also been facilitated by current advances in the field of proteomics, genomics, and information computational biology. This approach not only provides cheaper, effective, and potentially safer drugs with less side effects but also increases the processing pace of drug development. In this review, we wish to highlight some recent developments in the area of drug repurposing in cancer with a specific focus on the repurposing potential of anti-psychotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral drugs, anti-diabetic, antibacterial, and anti-fungal drugs.

No abstract

Cell culture is one of the most important and commonly used in vitro tools to comprehend various aspects of cells or tissues of a living body such as cell biology, tissue morphology, mechanism of diseases, cell signaling, drug action, cancer research and also finds its great importance in preclinical trials of various drugs. There are two major types of cell cultures that are most commonly used- two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional culture (3D). The former has been used since the 1900s, owing to its simplicity and low-cost maintenance as it forms a monolayer, while the latter being the advanced version and currently most worked upon. This chapter intends to provide the true meaning and significance to both cultures. It starts by making a clear distinction between the two and proceeds further to discuss their different applications in vitro. The significance of 2D culture is projected through different assays and therapeutic treatment to understand cell motility and treatment of diseases, whereas 3D culture includes different models and spheroid structures consisting of multiple layers of cells, and puts a light on its use in drug discovery and development. The chapter is concluded with a detailed account of the production of therapeutic proteins by the use of cells.