Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease and notoriously difficult to treat. Only a small proportion is curative by surgical resection, whilst standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced disease has only a modest effect with substantial toxicity. Clearly there is a need for the continual development of novel therapeutic agents to improve the current situation. Currently, there is a bulk of data indicating the important function of autophagy in cancer. While genetic evidence indicates that autophagy functions as a tumor suppressor, it is also apparent that autophagy can promote the survival of established tumors under stress conditions and in response to chemotherapy. This review provides a spectrum of potential pharmacological agents and autophagic approaches to enhance cell killing in pancreatic cancer.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2026-2043 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Cancers |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 Dec |
Keywords
- Apoptosis
- Autophagy
- ER stress
- Epigenetics
- Histone deacetylase
- Pancreatic cancer
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research