Cancer Research UK scientists at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the University of Glasgow, have found a new use for an old drug by showing that it shrinks a particular type of pancreatic cancer tumour and stops it spreading.
Mice with pancreatic cancers caused by known genetic faults were treated with the drug rapamycin. Previous clinical trials did not find this drug to be effective as a treatment for pancreatic cancers when it was given to all patients with different forms of the disease.
However, the team’s findings show that a particular type of pancreatic tumour – caused by afault in the gene PTEN, which is involved in cell growth – may be responsive to the drug.
They found that giving rapamycin to mice with faulty PTEN pancreatic tumours stopped the cancer cells from spreading. In some cases the drug also caused the tumour to shrink. The drug blocks a protein called ‘mammalian target of rapamycin’ (mTOR), which also controls cell growth. The research suggests that tumours caused by the faulty PTEN gene may be dependent on mTOR to keep growing.
Study author, Dr Jennifer Morton, a scientist at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, University of Glasgow, said: “This is incredibly important research showing for the first time that there is potential to tailor treatment to pancreatic cancer patients based on differences in their tumour’s genetic fingerprint.
“Although it is at a very early stage, it is the first time we have been able to pinpoint a genetic fault in pancreatic cancers and match it up with a specific drug.
“While more research is needed to see if this approach could benefit patients, it is a crucial step forward in developing new treatments for this devastating disease which has seen no survival improvements since the 70s.”
