Mebendazole

 

Mechanism	Description	Key Molecular Targets / Pathways	Cancer Types Studied
Microtubule Disruption	Binds to β-tubulin, prevents polymerization, causes mitotic arrest and spindle collapse	β-tubulin, mitotic spindle	Glioblastoma, colorectal, melanoma, lung, breast
Apoptosis Induction	Triggers programmed cell death through intrinsic pathway	Caspase-3/7/9, cytochrome c, PARP cleavage, Bcl-2 downregulation	Melanoma, lung, AML, glioblastoma
Anti-Angiogenesis	Inhibits tumor blood vessel formation	VEGFR2, HIF-1α, VEGF	Lung, glioblastoma, colon, melanoma
MAPK Pathway Inhibition	Synergizes with MEK inhibitors to suppress ERK signaling	MEK, ERK	NRAS-mutant melanoma
Wnt/β-catenin Pathway Inhibition	Blocks β-catenin/TCF4 transcriptional activity via TNIK inhibition	TNIK, β-catenin, c-Myc, Cyclin D	Colorectal cancer, polyposis models
Hedgehog Pathway Inhibition	Suppresses GLI1 expression and cilia-dependent SHH signaling	GLI1, Smoothened (via cilia disruption)	Medulloblastoma, basal cell carcinoma
Cancer Stem Cell Targeting	Inhibits self-renewal of leukemic and possibly solid tumor stem cells	c-Myb, colony-forming potential	AML, colorectal, breast
Immune Modulation	Activates M1 macrophages, enhances NK and T cell cytotoxicity	CD80/CD86, IL-1β, granzyme B, perforin	Breast, glioblastoma, lung
Autophagy Modulation	Induces protective autophagy that can be exploited by combining with autophagy inhibitors	LC3B, Beclin-1, p62	Melanoma, glioblastoma
Metastasis Suppression	Reduces migration, invasion, and formation of metastatic lesions	Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), VEGFR, tubulin	Lung, melanoma