Research points to a new treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

Researchers have shown how controlling cholesterol metabolism in pancreatic cancer cells reduces metastasis, pointing to a potential new treatment using drugs previously developed for atherosclerosis.

"We show for the first time that if you control the cholesterol metabolism you could reduce pancreatic cancer spread to other organs," said Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor in Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry. "We chose pancreatic cancer to test this approach because it is the most aggressive disease of all the cancers."
The researchers found accumulations of the compound cholesteryl ester in human pancreatic cancer specimens and cell lines, demonstrating a link between cholesterol esterification and metastasis. Esterification is a biochemical process that allows cholesterol to be stored in cells. Excess quantities of cholesterol result in cholesteryl ester being stored in lipid droplets within cancer cells.
"The results of this study demonstrate a new strategy for treating metastatic pancreatic cancer by inhibiting cholesterol esterification," said Jingwu Xie, the Jonathan and Jennifer Simmons Professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.