IMR Press / FBS / Volume 13 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.52586/S559
Open Access Review
Multifarious targets beyond microtubules—role of eribulin in cancer therapy
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1 Institute of Bioinformatics, International Technology Park, 560066 Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
2 Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), 576104 Manipal, Karnataka, India
3 Somaiya Institute of Research and Consultancy (SIRAC), Somaiya Vidyavihar University (SVU), Vidyavihar, 400077 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
*Correspondence: prashant@ibioinformatics.org (Prashant Kumar)
Front. Biosci. (Schol Ed) 2021, 13(2), 157–172; https://doi.org/10.52586/S559
Submitted: 28 February 2020 | Revised: 19 April 2021 | Accepted: 1 June 2021 | Published: 3 December 2021
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by BRI.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

Eribulin, a synthetic marine based drug has received extensive attention recently due to its promising anticancer activities against a wide variety of cancer types as evidenced by preclinical and clinical data. Eribulin is predominantly shown to exhibit microtubule inhibitory activity, however recent reports indicate that it acts via multiple molecular mechanisms targeting both the cancer cells as well as the tumor microenvironment. In this review, a comprehensive account on various modes of action of eribulin on cancer cells is presented along with important clinical aspects in the management of cancer through a comprehensive literature review. We have also highlighted approaches including combination therapy to improve the efficacy of eribulin in cancer treatment. Currently, eribulin is used to treat heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer, for which it gained FDA approval a decade ago and more recently, it has been approved for treating anthracycline-pretreated patients with metastatic liposarcoma. Novel therapeutic strategies should aim at resolving the toxicity and resistance conferred due to eribulin treatment so that it could be integrated in the clinics as a first-line treatment approach.

Keywords
Eribulin
Cancer therapy
Microtubule inhibition
Reversal of EMT
Review
Figures
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