Vitamin A Combined Chemotherapy May Help Improve Pancreatic Cancer

Targeting stromal cells and the cancer cells blocks multiple cell signalling pathways that are used by cancer cells to become aggressive.

By using a new technique combining a form of Vitamin A with chemotherapy that targets the cells surrounding the tumor, treatment for pancreatic cancer can be made more effective.

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 percent. 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.

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Pancreatic cancer often involves its exocrine part. It grows aggressively, and often detected late. Treatment options include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

‘Vitamin A targets the non-cancerous tissue and makes the existing chemotherapy more effective.’

Cancer cells are surrounded by other cells called 'stromal cells', which can make up 80 percent 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.

Lead researcher Professor Hemant Kocher from QMUL's Barts Cancer Institute said: "This is the first time that we have combined vitamin A with chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. The results are so promising that we're now taking this into a clinical trial."

About Chemotherapy Drugs
Chemotherapy drugs perform like ‘magic bullets’ to destroy cancer cells in the body.

Pancreatic cancer is extremely hard to treat by chemotherapy, so this finding is important because vitamin A targets the non-cancerous tissue and makes the existing chemotherapy more effective, killing the cancer cells and shrinking tumours.

"This could potentially be applicable to other cancers because if we try to understand the cancer as a whole, including its surrounding tissue, we may be able to develop new and better treatments."

Targeting stromal cells as well as the cancer cells blocks multiple cell signalling pathways that are used by cancer cells to become aggressive. This means that the cancer cells are no longer able to communicate as effectively and the tumour does not grow as it otherwise would.

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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Source-Newswise