Spironolactone, a Classic Potassium-Sparing Diuretic, Reduces Survivin Expression and Chemosensitizes Cancer Cells to Non-DNA-Damaging Anticancer Drugs

The study from October 14, 2019, demonstrated that spironolactone, a diuretic drug, has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of non-DNA-damaging anticancer drugs like gemcitabine and osimertinib by increasing cell death and inhibiting cell growth in various cancer cells, including lung, pancreatic, and glioblastoma, as well as cancer stem cells, without being toxic to normal cells. It was found that spironolactone reduces the expression of survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein, and that both pharmacological and genetic suppression of survivin further sensitized cancer cells to these anticancer drugs. In vivo experiments with a mouse xenograft model showed that combining spironolactone with the anticancer drugs significantly suppressed tumor growth without apparent adverse effects. The study concluded that spironolactone could be a safe and effective drug for enhancing the effects of certain anticancer drugs through the suppression of survivin. The number of participants or cells used in the study was not mentioned in the summary.