Minnelide, a novel drug for pancreatic and liver cancer

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic cancer is the 10th leading cause of all new cancer cases for men and the fourth leading cause of death across genders, having very poor prognosis and survival rates. The current standard of care Gemcitabine fails to add any survival benefit for this disease (www.cancer.gov). Though the incidence of pancreatic cancer is found to be higher in developed countries, the aggressive biology of the cancer, its high rate of recurrence and chemo-resistance make it a formidable disease in all parts of the globe. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver cancer, on the other hand affects almost 750,000 people world wide with 84% of the cases coming from underdeveloped or developing countries

Results: Our studies show that Minnelide, a water soluble pro-drug of triptolide (active compound from a chinese herb) is very effective against a number of malignant diseases.

Conclusion: The current study discusses the efficacy of this compound in pancreatic and liver cancer.

Keywords: Animal models; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Minnelide; Pancreatic cancer; Translational study; Triptolide.