OPPORTUNITY

According to statistics from the American Cancer Society, in the United States, an estimated 54,000 (28,000 men and 26,000 women) will be diagnosed and about 43,000 people (22,000 men and 21,000 women) will die of pancreatic cancer in 2017. Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the Unite States and about 7% of all cancer deaths. The average lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer for both men and women is about 1 in 65. Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with a 5-year survival rate of 7%. The best therapeutic options, to date, are surgery and combination cytotoxic therapies. Unfortunately, even in the case of an early diagnosis, many times pancreatic cancer cells aquire or exert resistance mechanisms to chemotherapies. Reversal of drug resistance will increase the efficacy of traditional cytotoxic chemotherapies and reduce side effects. Thus, combination of drug resistance reversal compounds with cytotoxic drugs will be one of the most effective clinical therapeutics strategies.

BREAKTHROUGH IN CANCER THERAPY

Inventors at the University of South Alabama have developed a method to alleviate Gemcitabine (chemotherapeutic) associated resistance in pancreatic cancer in cell culture experiments. Most of the studies were done in Panc1 and MiaPaCa2 pancreatic cell lines. The inventors have successfully conducted preliminary proof of principle experiments demonstrating partial reversal of Gemcitabine-resistance using pancreatic cancer cell lines. The inventors demonstrate an increase in the RNA and protein levels of sonic hedgehog (Shh) upon administration of CXCL12. Increase in Shh is associated with increased fibrosis associated with pancreatic cancer and poor delivery of oncology therapeutics.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

•  Overcome chemotherapeutic associated resistance in pancreatic cancer

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STATUS

Patent Issued

Download a PDF version of the description