Asthma Medicine Halts Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth

A common asthma drug reduced pancreatic cancer cell growth in laboratory experiments and animal tests, a new study reports.

A protein called S100P is found in excess amounts in some cancers and is important for pancreatic cancer cell growth and survival. This protein also activates a cell surface protein receptor called RAGE that plays a role in Alzheimer disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A drug called cromolyn, an allergy and asthma treatment, has been shown to bind to proteins similar to S100P. To test cromolyn’s effects on S100P in pancreatic cancer cells, Thiruvengadam Arumugam, Ph.D., Vijaya Ramachandran, Ph.D., and Craig D. Logsdon, Ph.D., of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, conducted experiments with the drug in tissue cultures and in mice with implanted pancreatic cancer.

They found that cromolyn bound to S100P, halted the activation of RAGE, and slowed cancer cell growth and survival in cell lines. In mice, the drug slowed pancreatic tumor growth and improved the effectiveness of gemcitabine, a chemotherapy drug used to treat pancreatic cancer.

"Together, these data support the further investigation of cromolyn as a possible treatment for pancreatic cancer," the authors write.

Contact: Scott Merville, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center External Communications

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Other highlights in the December 20 JNCI

Note: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Attribution to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute is requested in all news coverage. Visit the Journal online at http://jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org/.

Contact: Andrea Widener
Journal of the National Cancer Institute