Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been recognized as a drug for the treatment of various diseases in traditional medicine for more than two thousand years. Although ATO has recently shown excellent efficacy for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), it could not provide satisfactory outcomes as a single-agent for the management of non-APL leukemia or different solid tumors. Nevertheless, combination treatment strategies, e.g., ATO with other agents, have shown promising results against different diseases. Here, we introduce in depth the latest evidence and detailed insights into ATO-mediated cures for APL by targeting PML/RARα chimeric protein, followed by the preclinical and clinical efficacy of ATO on various non-APL malignancies and solid tumors. Likewise, the antiviral activity of ATO against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was also discussed briefly. Our review would provide a clear prospect for the combination of ATO with other agents for treatment of numerous neoplastic diseases, and open a new era in the clinically applicable range of arsenicals.

中文翻译：

---

三氧化二砷在抗击癌症和其他疾病中的治疗策略

三氧化二砷（ATO）在传统医学中已被公认为治疗各种疾病的药物已有2000多年的历史了。尽管ATO最近已显示出治疗急性早幼粒细胞白血病（APL）的优异疗效，但它不能作为非APL白血病或其他实体瘤治疗的单一药物提供令人满意的结果。然而，联合治疗策略，例如，ATO和其他药物，已显示出对不同疾病的良好前景。在这里，我们通过针对PML /RARα嵌合蛋白，深入介绍ATO介导的APL疗法的最新证据和详细见解，然后介绍ATO对各种非APL恶性肿瘤和实体瘤的临床前和临床疗效。同样，还简要讨论了ATO对人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的抗病毒活性。我们的综述将为将ATO与其他药物联合用于治疗多种肿瘤疾病提供明确的前景，并开辟了临床上可应用的砷剂新时代。