UK scientists discover compounds that shrink Pancreatic Cancer

Scientists from UCL (University College London) have designed a chemical compound that has reduced the growth of pancreatic cancer tumors by 80 percent. The compound, called MM41, was designed to block faulty genes. It appears to do this by targeting little knots in their DNA, called quadruplexes, which are very different from normal DNA and which are especially found in faulty genes. "This research provides a potentially very powerful alternative approach to the way that conventional drugs tackle pancreatic cancer, by targeting a very specific area of the DNA of faulty genes. One of the genes that MM41 blocks, the BCL-2 gene is involved in regulating apoptosis, the body's natural process which forces cells to die if they become too damaged or unhealthy to be repaired. BCL-2 is present in high amounts in many tumours and helps cancer cells to survive, but when the BCL-2 gene is blocked by MM41, the cancer cells succumb to apoptosis and die."
"We are now working to optimize this class of compounds, but it's clearly worthy of further investigation for potential use in treating pancreatic cancer."