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New Drug Candidate Prolongs the Lives of Pancreatic Cancer Patients
July 21, 2009Innovative TAU research holds promise for a broad range of human disease
Every year, 42,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Few live very long, and less than 5% are still alive five years after diagnosis.
There's new hope, though, from the lab of Prof. Yoel Kloog, dean of TAU's Faculty of Life Sciences. His drug compound Salirasib has shown positive results against pancreatic cancer and recently passed Phase I/II clinical trials. The drug, given in combination with gemcitabine, the standard drug used to combat pancreatic cancer, almost doubled the life expectancy of those who received it.
"In our study, the mean survival of pancreatic cancer patients was 10.8 months - better by far than the 6.2 months with gemcitabine alone," says Prof. Kloog, who recently presented the results to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His basic research offers the promise of a weapon to attack a broader range of mankind's most prevalent diseases, including lung, prostate and breast cancers as well as diabetes.
Blocking the Ras protein
Salirasib works by inhibiting a protein called Ras, which is known to be abnormally activated in one-third of human cancers. In cancer of the pancreas, mutant forms of Ras are found in up to 90% of all tumors. Salirasib's basic component, FTS, works to block the formation of cancer-promoting Ras nanoclusters, thus blocking a cascade of biochemical signals known as the "Ras signaling pathway" that allow Ras to wreak havoc on the body.
Early in the 1990s, many drug developers chased after a mechanism to inhibit Ras by targeting enzymes that modify it, but they were unsuccessful. "The major developers gave up, claiming Ras is not targetable," says Prof. Kloog, "but our concept takes a different approach. Now that we've shown it works in human subjects, I am definitely excited - no doubt about it." Prof. Kloog developed the Ras antagonist more than 15 years ago.
No toxic side effects
In the latest study, researchers tested for both toxicity and effectiveness. They gave 19 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer daily doses of salirasib along with a standard gemcitabine regimen. Salirasib was well tolerated by the patients, and they surpassed on average the number of months they would have lived on gentamiacine alone. There were no toxic side effects, such as heart or lung ailments. Tumor biopsies showed a significant reduction in Ras levels, suggesting that the drug is inhibiting the action of Ras in the tumor itself.
For this study, Salirasib was licensed by Concordia Pharmaceuticals, which collaborated with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other institutes in the United States.
If Phase II/III trials are successful, Prof. Kloog's drug will be the first successful Ras antagonist known to medical science. Salirabib could be medically available in as little as two years.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
"In our study, the mean survival of pancreatic cancer patients was 10.8 months - better by far than the 6.2 months with gemcitabine alone," says Prof. Kloog, who recently presented the results to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His basic research offers the promise of a weapon to attack a broader range of mankind's most prevalent diseases, including lung, prostate and breast cancers as well as diabetes.
Blocking the Ras protein
Salirasib works by inhibiting a protein called Ras, which is known to be abnormally activated in one-third of human cancers. In cancer of the pancreas, mutant forms of Ras are found in up to 90% of all tumors. Salirasib's basic component, FTS, works to block the formation of cancer-promoting Ras nanoclusters, thus blocking a cascade of biochemical signals known as the "Ras signaling pathway" that allow Ras to wreak havoc on the body.
Early in the 1990s, many drug developers chased after a mechanism to inhibit Ras by targeting enzymes that modify it, but they were unsuccessful. "The major developers gave up, claiming Ras is not targetable," says Prof. Kloog, "but our concept takes a different approach. Now that we've shown it works in human subjects, I am definitely excited - no doubt about it." Prof. Kloog developed the Ras antagonist more than 15 years ago.
No toxic side effects
In the latest study, researchers tested for both toxicity and effectiveness. They gave 19 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer daily doses of salirasib along with a standard gemcitabine regimen. Salirasib was well tolerated by the patients, and they surpassed on average the number of months they would have lived on gentamiacine alone. There were no toxic side effects, such as heart or lung ailments. Tumor biopsies showed a significant reduction in Ras levels, suggesting that the drug is inhibiting the action of Ras in the tumor itself.
For this study, Salirasib was licensed by Concordia Pharmaceuticals, which collaborated with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and other institutes in the United States.
If Phase II/III trials are successful, Prof. Kloog's drug will be the first successful Ras antagonist known to medical science. Salirabib could be medically available in as little as two years.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Pancreatic Cancer Current Events and Pancreatic Cancer News RSSRare pancreatic cancer patients may live longer when treated with radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is effective in achieving local control and palliation in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNTs), despite such tumors being commonly considered resistant to radiation therapy.
African-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.
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