New hope for pancreatic cancer treatment

It was interesting to see the recently published article by James and colleagues in the Journal of Biological Chemistry which investigated the potential of blocking the plasma membrane bound calcium pump PMCA in pancreatic cancer treatment. This ATP-dependent pump is key for cancer cell survival as it maintains low intracellular calcium levels. The generation of ATP by aerobic glycolysis is a major contributor to the activity of this calcium pump and attentuation of the glycolytic pathway therefore resulted in selective toxicity to cancer cells that were dependent on ATP-driven PMCA activity for their survival. This approach may improve the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Currently, pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive solid cancers. Although it is estimated to affect less than 8000 people in the UK each year (9th most common cancer overall), 5 year survival is less than 5%. This is due to the disease being diagnosed at a late stage where surgery is no longer possible and a lack of reliable screening methods. The above study represents a major breakthrough in the approach for targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer by exploiting tumour metabolism relative to normal cells. Potentially, targeting metabolism may help in treating a number of other solid malignancies as well, as a number of laboratory studies have previously shown.

Reference

1. Andrew D. James; Oihane Erice; Jason I. E. Bruce.Glycolytic ATP Fuels the Plasma Membrane Calcium Pump Critical for Pancreatic Cancer Cell Survival. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, December 2013