Beyond DNA binding - a review of the potential mechanisms mediating quinacrine's therapeutic activities in parasitic infections, inflammation, and cancers

Reza Ehsanian; Carter Van Waes; Stephan M Feller

doi:10.1186/1478-811X-9-13

Beyond DNA binding - a review of the potential mechanisms mediating quinacrine's therapeutic activities in parasitic infections, inflammation, and cancers

Cell Commun Signal. 2011 May 15:9:13. doi: 10.1186/1478-811X-9-13.

Authors

Reza Ehsanian¹, Carter Van Waes, Stephan M Feller

Affiliation

¹ Tumor Biology Section, Head and Neck Surgery Branch, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. rezae@stanford.edu.

Abstract

This is an in-depth review of the history of quinacrine as well as its pharmacokinetic properties and established record of safety as an FDA-approved drug. The potential uses of quinacrine as an anti-cancer agent are discussed with particular attention to its actions on nuclear proteins, the arachidonic acid pathway, and multi-drug resistance, as well as its actions on signaling proteins in the cytoplasm. In particular, quinacrine's role on the NF-κB, p53, and AKT pathways are summarized.