Pancreatic cancer, formally known as Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is one of the toughest cancers to treat, with a resistance to chemotherapy and no effective alternatives.
Approximately 95% of people diagnosed with it die from the disease, as it often goes undetected in its early stages.
Although multi-agent chemotherapy provides slight improvements over single-agent treatments, resistance to these therapy “cocktails” always develops.
Currently, the median survival rate of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer is only 8-11 months, with a five-year survival rate at about 3%.
The Research: How High Blood Glucose Levels Might Help
Researchers from University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center recently published a study in Nature Communications.
They found that a state of hyperglycemia, or elevated blood glucose levels, made pancreatic cancer more responsive to chemotherapy in a mouse model, in cell culture, and in a group of patients with metastatic PDAC.
Dr. Jordan Winter, Director Surgical Services at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, says this finding offers a new, low-cost therapeutic strategy.
“Forcing hyperglycemia to make tumors more sensitive to chemotherapy could be easily tested in patients with pancreatic cancer.”
The Study and Its Findings
In the study, the team found that patients with localized pancreatic cancer and high glucose levels were more responsive to chemotherapy.
About 33% of patients treated for metastatic pancreatic cancer had elevated glucose levels.
Despite having higher levels of a cancer antigen (a measure of disease burden), patients with high glucose levels had a 40% lower risk of dying compared to those with normal glucose levels.
The team also conducted studies in mice models of hyperglycemia. They induced high blood sugar levels using a drug or diet and found that mice with hyperglycemia demonstrated greater sensitivity to single-agent chemotherapy.
Dr. Winter says, “The effectiveness of diverse chemotherapies was markedly improved under high glucose conditions.
In some instances, the mice appeared to be cured of their cancer, while mice receiving the same chemotherapy under normal glycemic conditions had relatively little benefit.”
What’s Next?
The findings suggest that inducing hyperglycemia in a clinical setting could make tumors more responsive to chemotherapy.
Glucose levels could theoretically be altered with intravenous dextrose infusions during chemotherapy administration.
Dr. Winter and his team are now working on designing a clinical trial to treat patients with intentionally elevated blood sugars. They aim to determine whether this strategy can improve patient outcomes.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about new vaccine to prevent pancreatic cancer, and many existing drugs can kill cancer.
For more information about cancer risk, please see recent studies about drug that can strengthen immune system to fight cancer, and results showing Aspirin may boost survival in these cancers.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
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