Cancer prevalence after exposure to Wnt-activating drugs: a systematic review

Abstract

Objectives To assess whether treatment with drugs that activate the Wnt pathway leads to an increased risk of cancer. Design Systematic review reported using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. Data sources PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched through 1 November 2024. Eligibility criteria All primary research articles reporting clinical studies, including observational and experimental studies, were included in this review. All studies were eligible for inclusion if they included the exposure of interest, that is, compounds which have been described to activate the Wnt pathway, and the outcome of interest, that is, cancer prevalence. No language restrictions were performed. Data extraction and synthesis This study was reported according to the PRISMA reporting guidelines. The search string, objectives, and study protocol methods were defined before the study was initiated. Results A total of 48 studies investigating drugs that activate the Wnt pathway (valproic acid, lithium, cimetidine, olanzapine, clozapine, haloperidol) were included in this systematic review. The results from this systematic review show that, at least for the included compounds in the currently used systemic dosage, cancer prevalence does not significantly increase. Conclusions The current study found that the use of drugs that activate the Wnt pathway was not associated with an increased risk of cancer. As a promising agent in the regenerative therapy field, further research into Wnt activation as a treatment option should be explored.