New avenues in pancreatic cancer: exploiting microRNAs as predictive biomarkers and new approaches to target aberrant metabolism.

New avenues in pancreatic cancer: exploiting microRNAs as predictive biomarkers and new approaches to target aberrant metabolism. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Nov 13;: Authors: Capula M, Mantini G, Funel N, Giovannetti E Abstract Introduction. Most pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed at advanced-stages and first-line regimens (FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel) provide limited survival advantage and are associated with considerable toxicities. In this grim scenario, novel treatments and biomarkers are warranted.Areas covered. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) emerged as biomarkers for cancer prognosis and chemoresistance and blood-based miRNAs are being evaluated as indicators of therapeutic activity. Moreover, aberrant metabolism, such as aerobic glycolysis, has been correlated to tumour aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Against this background, innovative approaches to tackle metabolic aberrations are being implemented and glycolytic inhibitors targeting lactate dehydrogenase-A (LDH-A) showed promising effects in preclinical models. A PubMed search was used to compile relevant publications until February 2019.Expert Opinion. Analysis of tissue/circulating miRNA might improve selection for optimal treatment regimens. For instance, miR-181a modulation seems to predict response to FOLFIRINOX. However, we need further studies to validate predictive miRNA profiles, as well as to exploit miRNAs for treatment-tailoring. Several miRNAs h...
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol Source Type: research