By Emily Hubbell

The American Cancer Society estimates that of the 42,470 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, only about one in five will live more than one year after their disease was found. Scientists have yet to discover a cure for pancreatic cancer, and its standard treatment, gemcitibine, only extends a patient’s life expectancy by a few weeks.

With a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Interthyr Corporation and a group of Ohio University researchers are working together to develop a drug that could potentially treat pancreatic cancer.

“Receiving this grant is a significant step forward” said Dr. Doug Goetz, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and NQPI member. “The goal is develop a safe therapeutic for this devastating disease.” 
 
Dr. Leonard Kohn—CEO of Interthyr Corporation and retired OU faculty member from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Edison Biotechnology Institute—will collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of OU faculty led by Doug Goetz. The team includes Drs. Kelly McCall, Steve Bergmeier, Mark McMills, Frank Schwartz, and Ramiro Malgor.

When bacteria enter the human body, particles shed from the bacteria bind to Toll-like receptors (TLR). These TLRs trigger an innate immune response that protects the body from harmful bacteria, Goetz said.

But what happens if this process occurs when it shouldn’t? That’s a question that led Kohn to apply a derivative of a compound currently used in thyroid disease treatment to pancreatic cancer treatment.

Pancreatic cancer cells and some other non-immune cells have been shown to have inappropriate TLR signaling. Instead of jump-starting the immune process, this signaling may result in inappropriate cell growth, the generation of inflammatory proteins and overall disease expression, he said.

The idea is to treat pancreatic cancer with compounds that would inhibit unwanted TLR signaling, he said. Work led by McCall has already shown that the compound, C10, decreases TLR signaling in cancer cells.

Over the next two years, the scientists will work to determine the exact mechanisms involved in the action of C10, identify derivatives of C10 that may show greater activity, and conduct studies to move toward clinical trials, he said.