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This study evaluated the anticancer potential of three antiretroviral drugs, namely ritonavir (RIT), saquinavir (SAQ), and rilpivirine (RPV), in PC-3 and UM-UC-5 cancer cell lines, using MTT, clonogenic, wound healing, toxicity assessment with fibroblast cells, and DCFDA assays; this last method included efavirenz (EFV) and etravirine (ETV) for intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. RIT and SAQ showed stronger antiproliferative effects than RPV, with lower concentration- and cell-line-dependent activity, while clonogenic assays confirmed a reduction in long-term proliferation, particularly for RIT in both cell lines and SAQ for UM-UC-5. In contrast, effects on cell migration were limited for all drugs. ROS production was cell-dependent, with EFV increasing ROS in PC-3 and SAQ and RIT in UM-UC-5 cells. Generally, all drugs showed minimal toxicity in non-malignant cells, with SAQ exhibiting some toxicity but only for concentrations higher than those required for anticancer activity. Overall, these findings suggest that antiretroviral, especially protease inhibitors, may cause anticancer effects, although these are concentration- and context-dependent, and further investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms involved.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells15121045","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T02:32:46Z","timestamp":1780885966000},"page":"1045","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Repurposing Antiretroviral Drugs for Urological Cancers: Differential Effects of Protease Inhibitors and NNRTIs on Prostate and Bladder Cancer Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8202-1459","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana","family":"Pereira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"PerMed Research Group, RISE-Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"RISE-Health, Department of Community Medicine, Health Information and Decision (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Pl\u00e1cido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1283-1042","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nuno","family":"Vale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"PerMed Research Group, RISE-Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"RISE-Health, Department of Community Medicine, Health Information and Decision (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Pl\u00e1cido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Laboratory of Personalized Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Health Information and Decision (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Pl\u00e1cido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"229","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries","volume":"74","author":"Bray","year":"2024","journal-title":"CA Cancer J. 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