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New drug achieves pancreatic cancer tumor remission and prevents recurrence
April 20, 2009DENVER -- Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers, but researchers may have found a combination therapy to reduce cancer stem cells and stop pancreatic cancer growth. Results will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.
Rajesh Kumar N.V., Ph.D., a faculty member at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, said a combination therapy using tigatuzumab, a novel humanized death receptor-5 (DR-5) agonist antibody, along with gemcitabine, may result in reducing pancreatic cancer stem cells to achieve tumor remission and prevent tumor recurrence.
"Many advanced cancers, including pancreatic cancer, recur and result in patient death despite the use of chemotherapeutic and radiation modalities that initially lead to therapeutic responses," said Kumar. "A growing body of evidence supports the concept that cancer stem cells are the seeds of the most clinically deadly form of therapy-resistant human cancers. Emerging studies show that cancer stem cells are indeed more resistant to therapy than other cancer cells and might be the reason why conventional chemotherapy, while reducing tumor size, does not result in long-term cures."
Kumar and colleagues analyzed the cancer stem cells in ten patient-derived tumors implanted in laboratory mice and found that DR-5 is enriched in cancer stem cells compared to non-stem cell tumor populations. These mice either received tigatuzumab alone; gemcitabine, the current clinical treatment for pancreatic cancer; or a combination of the two agents.
They found that treatment with gemcitabine alone reduced tumor size, but the tumor cells that remained were rich in pancreatic cancer stem cells. In nearly all cases, the tumors returned.
However, treatment with gemcitabine and tigatuzumab resulted in the reduction of pancreatic cancer stem cells, caused tumor remission, and significantly increased time-to-tumor progression in 50 percent of treated cases from a median of 54 days to 103 days.
From a clinical standpoint, targeting cancer-sustaining pancreatic cancer stem cells will be of paramount significance since there are few effective therapies for pancreatic cancer and most of the patients die within the first year of diagnosis. "Clinically, this discovery could transform the way in which pancreatic cancer is treated and contribute towards making pancreatic cancer a more manageable disease," said Kumar.
American Association for Cancer Research
Kumar and colleagues analyzed the cancer stem cells in ten patient-derived tumors implanted in laboratory mice and found that DR-5 is enriched in cancer stem cells compared to non-stem cell tumor populations. These mice either received tigatuzumab alone; gemcitabine, the current clinical treatment for pancreatic cancer; or a combination of the two agents.
They found that treatment with gemcitabine alone reduced tumor size, but the tumor cells that remained were rich in pancreatic cancer stem cells. In nearly all cases, the tumors returned.
However, treatment with gemcitabine and tigatuzumab resulted in the reduction of pancreatic cancer stem cells, caused tumor remission, and significantly increased time-to-tumor progression in 50 percent of treated cases from a median of 54 days to 103 days.
From a clinical standpoint, targeting cancer-sustaining pancreatic cancer stem cells will be of paramount significance since there are few effective therapies for pancreatic cancer and most of the patients die within the first year of diagnosis. "Clinically, this discovery could transform the way in which pancreatic cancer is treated and contribute towards making pancreatic cancer a more manageable disease," said Kumar.
American Association for Cancer Research
Pancreatic Cancer Current Events and Pancreatic Cancer News RSSAfrican-Americans with colorectal cancer have poorer outcomes, lower survival rates
New research published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that African-American patients with colorectal cancer are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease and are less likely to undergo surgical procedures compared with Caucasians, suggesting that improvements in screening and rates of operation may reduce differences in colorectal cancer outcomes for African-Americans.
Discovery offers potential new pancreatic cancer treatment
Tiny particles that can carry drugs and target cancer cells may offer treatment hope for those suffering with pancreatic cancer. New research to be presented in November at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles reveals that tumor-penetrating microparticles (TPM) have been specifically designed to break through hard-to-infiltrate barriers and deliver drugs more effectively and efficiently than the standard form of chemotherapy such as those injected through a vein.
Hepatitis B does not increase risk for pancreatic cancer
A Henry Ford Hospital study found that hepatitis B does not increase the risk for pancreatic cancer - and that only age is a contributing factor.
M. D. Anderson examines use of toad venom in cancer treatment
Huachansu, a Chinese medicine that comes from the dried venom secreted by the skin glands of toads, has tolerable toxicity levels, even at doses eight times those normally administered, and may slow disease progression in some cancer patients, say researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Pancreatic cancer: Researchers find drug that reverses resistance to chemotherapy
For the first time researchers have shown that by inhibiting the action of an enzyme called TAK-1, it is possible to make pancreatic cancer cells sensitive to chemotherapy, opening the way for the development of a new drug to treat the disease.
Endothelin-1 inhibitors in chronic pancreatitis
Fibrosis is a key feature of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. The extensive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins fosters the development of an exocrine and endocrine organ insufficiency, and accelerates progression of the tumour.
Autoimmune response can induce pancreatic tumor rejection
Immune responses are capable of killing tumors before they can be directed toward normal body tissue, according to new scientific findings published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
MicroRNAs circulating in blood show promise as biomarkers to detect pancreatic cancer
A blood test for small molecules abnormally expressed in pancreatic cancer may be a promising route to early detection of the disease.
Blood-flow metabolism mismatch predicts pancreatic tumor aggressiveness
Researchers from Turku, Finland, have identified a blood-flow glucose consumption mismatch that predicted pancreatic tumor aggressiveness, according to results of a study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Taking the Needle's Sting Out of Diabetes
Found in 30% of all human cancer tumors, the Ras protein literally "drives cells crazy," says Prof. Yoel Kloog, the dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. Prof. Kloog was the first in the world to develop an effective anti-Ras drug against pancreatic cancer, currently in clinical trials.
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