New uses for an old remedy:Digoxin as a potential treatment for steatohepatitis and other disorders

Repurposing of the widely available and relatively cheap generic cardiac glycoside digoxin for non-cardiac indications could have a wide-ranging impact on the global burden of several diseases.Over the past several years,there have been significant advances in the study of digoxin pharmacology and its potential noncardiac clinical applications,including anti-inflammatory,antineoplastic,metabolic,and antimicrobial use.Digoxin holds promise in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease,including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and alcoholassociated steatohepatitis as well as in obesity,cancer,and treatment of viral infections,among other conditions.In this review,we provide a summary of the clinical uses of digoxin to date and discuss recent research on its emerging applications.