Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Vitamin A may help improve pancreatic cancer chemotherapy

I would not be including this in my blog if it were only about results in mice, since such research sometimes does not turn out to behave the same way in humans. But results also showed up in cell cultures, making it a stronger result.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/qmuo-vam052416.php

Public Release: 24-May-2016
Vitamin A may help improve pancreatic cancer chemotherapy
The addition of high doses of a form of vitamin A could help make chemotherapy more successful in treating pancreatic cancer, according to an early study by Queen Mary University of London.
Queen Mary University of London

Around 8,800 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. It is known as the UK's deadliest cancer, with a survival rate of just 3 per cent. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone are relatively unsuccessful in treating the disease, and while surgery to remove the tumour offers the best chance of survival, most patients are diagnosed when the cancer has already spread to other organs. A different approach is therefore needed to target the cancer more effectively.

Cancer cells are surrounded by other cells called 'stromal cells', which can make up 80 per cent of pancreatic cancer tissue. These relatively normal tissue cells communicate with the cancer cells and play a major role in cancer progression, and could offer a new target for treatment.

The study, in cell cultures and mice, tested a new approach of targeting stromal cells and cancer cells simultaneously. By using 'gemcitabine' chemotherapy to target cancer cells, and a form of vitamin A to target the surrounding stromal cells, the combined approach led to a reduction in cancer cell proliferation and invasion.

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The new approach is now being tested in a clinical trial, STARPAC, led from Barts Cancer Institute's Centre for Experimental Cancer Medicine. The trial hopes to establish a safe combination of two chemotherapy medications with a stromal targeting agent and is currently recruiting participants.

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