Fisher

(Best Syndication News) There is new hope for those suffering from Pancreatic Cancer, according to researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center. A combination chemoprevention gene therapy (CGT) involving a dietary agent and a protein have been able to effectively kill established pancreatic tumors.

So far the research has only been done on mice. Chief investigator Paul B. Fisher, Ph.D. says “Our hypothesis was that certain non-toxic dietary agents that had the ability to promote reactive oxygen species (ROS) would break down pancreatic cancer cell resistance to therapy following administration of mda-7/IL-24 and be safe for human use.”

Fisher and other researchers at the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine were able to both prevent and treat pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal and treatment resistant forms of cancer.

The dietary agent, perillyl alcohol (POH), is found in citrus plants, lavender, peppermint, cherries, sage, and lemongrass. The researchers combined POH with a gene-delivered cytokine (melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24, known as mda-7/IL-24) and found that this approach prevented pancreatic cancer growth and progression. The CGT also effectively killed established tumours.

POH has already been shown to be well tolerated in human clinical studies. “We are very excited at the prospect of this chemoprevention gene therapy as a means of both preventing and treating pancreatic cancer, and it has significant potential to move rapidly into human clinical trials.”

The research is published in the July issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. See what others are saying and join the discussion at our Forum

By Marsha Quinn
Best Syndication News Health Writer

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