Scientists have discovered a new drug target for pancreatic cancer, the PPP1R1B protein.

Recently, scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute discovered a new drug target, a protein called PPP1R1B, that prevents the deadly spread of pancreatic cancer, or metastasis, when suppressed in mice.
study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, is entitled "Loss of HIF From Pancreatic Cancer Cells Expression of PPP1R1B and Nature of p53 to Promote Invasion and Metastasis".
this is the first step toward one of the deadly cancers known to have died.
Dr Aindya Bagchi, associate professor of cancer initiation and maintenance at the Sanford Burnham Preby Institute for Medical Discovery and senior author of the study, said: "Our findings suggest that a protein called PPP1R1B is new to pancreatic cancer researchers and can drive tumor metastasis, which is the main cause of cancer death.
with these proof-of-concept data, we can begin drug screening to identify a PPP1R1B inhibitor that, if successful, could help more pancreatic cancer patients survive.
" pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest: less than 10% of patients survive five years later.
is difficult to detect because symptoms usually occur only after the tumor has metastasy.
, however, if tumors were contained in the pancreas, the five-year survival rate would rise to nearly 40 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
cancer is on the rise for unknown reasons and is expected to be the second-largest cancer-related cause of death in the United States by 2030.
surprising finding in this study that scientists began to understand the response of pancreatic cancer to hypoxia.
cancer researchers have long wondered how pancreatic cancer survives in such harsh environments, speculating that an increase in hypoxia-induced factor 1 (HIF1A) can stimulate tumor growth.
drugs that inhibit HIF1A are being used in many studies of hypoxia cancers, but so far the role of the protein in pancreatic cancer is unclear, creating obstacles for clinical trials to evaluate these potential drugs.
first step, scientists created mice with pancreatic tumors that did not produce HIF1A.
hope that removing the protein will be beneficial and free mice from cancer.
, however, they were surprised that the mice had more aggressive tumors, were more likely to invade adjacent organs, were more likely to metastase, and had shorter survival times.
Bagchi said: "Our initial assumption was that if we removed HIF1A, which is thought to be a driver of cancer survival, then tumor growth will be delayed, or we should cure cancer."
, however, we got the exact opposite result.
new drug targets were revealed, the scientists found an increase in the amount of a protein called PPP1R1B in the mice.
when they removed the gene that encodes the protein, the mice's metastasis decreased, suggesting that a drug that inhibits the protein could stop the spread of pancreatic cancer.
Our data also show levels of PPP1R1B in tumor samples in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer," said Ashutosh Tiwari, a postdoctoral assistant at Sanford Burnham Prebisbazi Laboratory in Sanford, D.C., and lead author of the study. The rise is further evidence of the therapeutic potential of this protein, with elevated PPP1R1B levels also found in colon, lung and prostate cancers, and possibly in other low-oxygen tumors, so the benefits of inhibitors may go beyond pancreatic cancer.
, the scientists plan to begin drug screening to find compounds that inhibit PPP1R1B.
activities will take place at the Institute's Conrad Preby Center for Chemical Genomics, one of the most advanced drug research and development centers in the non-profit sector.
: "1" (2) Source: Translational Medicine Network !-- end of the content display -- !-- determine whether the login ends.