New molecule to target pancreatic cancer treatment found by Mayo Clinic researchers

A new target to improve treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cancer, which accounts for more than 95% of pancreatic cancer cases, has been identified by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, USA. This fast-growing, often lethal cancer is resistant to conventional chemotherapy. The findings were published in the January 3 on-line issue of PLOS ONE.

The researchers decoded a molecular pathway that is switched "on" at all times, promoting accelerated growth of pancreatic tumors, and that discovery revealed ways to disable the pathway. They say one strategy could involve the use of the drug bortezomib, which is already approved for several human blood cancers under the trade name Velcade, and is marketed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, the US cancer unit of Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda (TYO: 4502) and Janssen-Cilag, part of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

"Targeting this pathway to decrease the proliferation of cancer cells may represent a new strategy for pancreatic cancer therapy," according to the study's senior investigator, Peter Storz, a biochemist and molecular biologist at the Mayo Clinic.