New cancer nanomedicine reduces pancreatic tumour growth

Australian cancer researchers have developed a highly promising technology to deliver gene-silencing drugs to treat pancreatic cancer – the most chemo-resistant and deadly cancer in Australia. 

When tested in mice, the new nanomedicine resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in the growth of tumours and reduced the spread of pancreatic cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Phoebe Phillips, from UNSW's Lowy Cancer Research Centre, said it was devastating for her clinical colleagues when they had to tell pancreatic cancer patients that the best chemotherapy drug available could prolong life by only 16 weeks.

"A major reason for the lack of response to chemotherapy is that pancreatic tumours have an extensive scar tissue which makes up to 90 per cent of the tumour," Dr Phillips said. "This scar causes pancreatic cancer cell chemotherapy resistance and is a physical barrier to chemotherapy drug delivery to tumours.

"We recently identified a key promoter of tumour growth, cancer spread and chemo-resistance in pancreatic tumours called betaIII-tubulin. Inhibition of this gene resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in tumour growth and reduced the spread of the cancer in mice," Dr Phillips said.

The problem with therapeutically targeting this gene is that it is difficult to deliver drugs to it. To overcome this problem, the researchers have developed a nanomedicine which consists of a state-of-the-art nanoparticle that can package small RNA molecules (DNA photocopies of cells) and greatly inhibit ?III-tubulin.