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New Drug Achieves Pancreatic Cancer Tumor Remission And Prevents Recurrence, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2009) —
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers, but researchers
may have found a combination therapy to reduce cancer stem cells and
stop pancreatic cancer growth. Results will be presented at the
American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

Rajesh Kumar N.V., Ph.D., a faculty member at the Sidney Kimmel
Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, said a
combination therapy using tigatuzumab, a novel humanized death
receptor-5 (DR-5) agonist antibody, along with gemcitabine, may result
in reducing pancreatic cancer stem cells to achieve tumor remission and
prevent tumor recurrence.

"Many advanced cancers, including pancreatic cancer, recur and
result in patient death despite the use of chemotherapeutic and
radiation modalities that initially lead to therapeutic responses,"
said Kumar. "A growing body of evidence supports the concept that
cancer stem cells are the seeds of the most clinically deadly form of
therapy-resistant human cancers. Emerging studies show that cancer stem
cells are indeed more resistant to therapy than other cancer cells and
might be the reason why conventional chemotherapy, while reducing tumor
size, does not result in long-term cures."

Kumar and colleagues analyzed the cancer stem cells in ten
patient-derived tumors implanted in laboratory mice and found that DR-5
is enriched in cancer stem cells compared to non-stem cell tumor
populations. These mice either received tigatuzumab alone; gemcitabine,
the current clinical treatment for pancreatic cancer; or a combination
of the two agents.

They found that treatment with gemcitabine alone reduced tumor size,
but the tumor cells that remained were rich in pancreatic cancer stem
cells. In nearly all cases, the tumors returned.

However, treatment with gemcitabine and tigatuzumab resulted in the
reduction of pancreatic cancer stem cells, caused tumor remission, and
significantly increased time-to-tumor progression in 50 percent of
treated cases from a median of 54 days to 103 days.

From a clinical standpoint, targeting cancer-sustaining pancreatic
cancer stem cells will be of paramount significance since there are few
effective therapies for pancreatic cancer and most of the patients die
within the first year of diagnosis. "Clinically, this discovery could
transform the way in which pancreatic cancer is treated and contribute
towards making pancreatic cancer a more manageable disease," said Kumar.

LINK: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419170025.htm