From Comments by Evan Z. Lang, MD, MS, medical oncologist and hematologist with OHC. Article by Maria Cohut, Medical News Today

October 24, 2018

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, a common and aggressive type of cancer, often develops resistance to treatments such as chemotherapy. However, a new drug tested in mice may be able to eliminate the cancer’s defenses.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma accounts for approximately 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases, according to specialists.

  • It’s the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.
  • It’s highly resistant to chemotherapy.
  • The five-year survival rate for this cancer dishearteningly low: only 8.5 percent.
  • It’s also fast-growing and highly aggressive.
  • Its interaction with a type of fat-storing cell known as stellate cells ultimately allows the cancer to progress and spread to other parts of the body.

“Locally, pancreatic cancer was also the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality in Butler County from 2010 – 2014, of which 75% were diagnosed at a late stage,” added Dr. Lang, who sees patients at OHC’s Fairfield and Hamilton offices in Butler County. “That’s one reason why we are excited about this research and the potential of this new drug in people.”

Over the past few years, scientists at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, have been developing a drug to block pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma’s resistance to therapy, thereby allowing cancer treatments to effectively destroy tumors. Recently, they report in the study paper now published in the journal Gastroenterology, they demonstrated that this new drug is effective in mouse models of pancreatic cancer. In the future, they aim to see if it’s safe and just as effective in humans.

Over a period of four years, the researchers, led by Dr. Mouad Edderkaoui, worked diligently to try to synthesize a compound that would be able to halt the activity of pancreatic cancer cells. This way, they developed a new drug that they named Metavert. Metavert, they found, is able to inhibit the cells’ resistance to chemotherapy. Moreover, it boosts the effect of radiotherapy used in combination with two common chemotherapy drugs: paclitaxel and gemcitabine. When the researchers used it in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer, Metavert increased the rodents’ survival rates by approximately 50 percent.

“I’ve seen patients respond to therapy for a while, and then the disease takes off because the cancer becomes smart – it blocks chemotherapy from working,” says senior study author Dr. Stephen Pandol. “Metavert targets that action,” he explains.

Right now, the investigators are working on further improving the newly developed drug with the aim of eventually testing it in humans – an exciting step toward improving survival rates in pancreatic cancer patients.

“If this drug has the same results in humans, we could finally have an effective option for treating our patients,” added Dr. Lang.

For more information about pancreatic cancer and treatment options, click here or call 1-888-649-4800 to speak with one of our cancer experts.