Research
GOAL: The overall goal of this program project grant is to deliver one new agent against pancreatic cancer into clinical trials each year. The drug targets will be discovered through analysis of molecular and genetic changes that occur in pancreatic cancer cells and tissues.
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Patient Information
If you are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, please consider helping us help others by donating part of your tumor for this important research project. There is no cost to you or to your physician or hospital. All cost of shipping and handling are underwritten by the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.
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Partners:
David O Azorsa*, Irma M Gonzales, Gargi D Basu, Ashish Choudhary,Shilpi Arora, Kristen M Bisanz, Jeffrey A Kiefer, Meredith C Henderson, Jeffrey M Trent, Daniel D Von Hoff and Spyro Mousses
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer retains a poor prognosis among the gastrointestinal cancers. It affects
230,000 individuals worldwide, has a very high mortality rate, and remains one of the most challenging
malignancies to treat successfully. Treatment with gemcitabine, the most widely used chemotherapeutic
against pancreatic cancer, is not curative and resistance may occur. Combinations of gemcitabine with
other chemotherapeutic drugs or biological agents have resulted in limited improvement.
Methods: In order to improve gemcitabine response in pancreatic cancer cells, we utilized a synthetic
lethal RNAi screen targeting 572 known kinases to identify genes that when silenced would sensitize
pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine.
Posted by Meraj Aziz 
Von Hoff DD, Korn R, Mousses S.
Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA. dvh@tgen.org
Abstract
In a recent issue of Science, Olive and colleagues document that
inhibition of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in a genetically engineered mouse
model of pancreatic cancer can enhance the intratumor concentration of
certain anticancer drugs. Could this finding provide us with a new
method to attack pancreatic cancer?
PMID: 19573807 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Posted by Meraj Aziz 
Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, TGen’s Physician-In-Chief, and Dr. Craig B. Thompson, Director of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn, are co-leaders of SU2C pancreatic cancer "Dream Team," which will lead a three-year investigation into new approaches to treating pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
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