Macrolide antibiotics exert antileukemic effects by modulating the autophagic flux through inhibition of hERG1 potassium channels

Macrolide antibiotics (MAs) have a wide spectrum of activities against Gram-positive bacteria, but they have also been proposed as anticancer drugs for multiple tumor types. 1 On these bases, clinical trials have been started, and their results evidenced clinical benefits. 1 MAs have also been tested in hematologic malignancies, alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs or tyrosine kinase inhibitors. 2 , 3 How MAs exert antineoplastic activity is unclear. Different mechanisms have been proposed, including modulation of autophagy. 4 , 5 , 6