Risks and benefits of chloroquine use in anticancer strategies

摘要

We read with great interest the Case Report by Rustogi and colleagues1 that addressed the risk of skin lesions in individuals undergoing radiotherapy and chloroquine treatment. This is an important report at a time in which new uses of chloroquine are being studied and after the drug's antimalarial use was suspended in most countries because of drug resistance. Chloroquine is being used in clinical trials as an investigational antiretroviral in humans with HIV-1/A1DS who often develop tumours, particularly when survival has been prolonged by antiretroviral treatments. Furthermore, in a study by Sotelo and co-workers,3 chloroquine was added to a conventional therapeutic protocol (surgery plus radiotherapy plus chemotherapy) for glioblastoma in HIV-1-seronegative adults. Although the small numbers of individuals enrolled in this pilot study did not allow for statistical conclusions, the median survival was double in the chloroquine group compared with controls.