In a new study from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, researchers have discovered a molecule that inhibits the growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancer.
Their findings pave the way toward the development of a new drug candidate for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The molecule, MMRi62, targets iron metabolism to kill cancer cells and the harmful proteins that encourage their growth and spread.
This suggests that further development and refinement of this compound could lead to a new type of pancreatic cancer therapy.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells are predisposed to ferroptosis, a recently identified type of cell death triggered by iron that has become a focal point of cancer research.
The identification of novel agents that activate ferroptosis represents a new area of potential therapies for PDAC, an aggressive and largely incurable disease that accounts for 90% of all types of pancreatic cancer.
A unique feature of PDAC is mutations in the KRAS and TP53 genes, which drive the disease and make tumors resistant to chemotherapy.
Because drugs and treatments targeting these mutations are not yet available, therapeutic options for patients with PDAC are limited, and the disease has a 5-year survival rate of only 12%.
This study showed that MMRi62 inhibited tumor growth and prevented metastasis of tumors to distant organs.
The researchers hope that the discovery will lead to promising new MMRi62-based treatments for recalcitrant cancers such as PDAC.
If you care about pancreatic cancer, please read studies that this diabetes can be an early sign of pancreatic cancer and findings of popular heartburn drug that may increase risk of pancreatic cancer.
For more information about pancreatic cancer, please see recent studies about how to stop spread of pancreatic cancer and results showing a new way to starve pancreatic cancer.
The study is published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and was conducted by Xinjiang Wang et al.
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