Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 21, 2025

Author Spotlight: Reprogramming Cancer Cells to iPSCs to Study Disease Progression and Treatment Targets
07:08

Author Spotlight: Reprogramming Cancer Cells to iPSCs to Study Disease Progression and Treatment Targets

Published on: February 2, 2024

928

Pancreatic Cancer: Nucleic Acid Drug Discovery and Targeted Therapy

Hong Dai1,2, Razack Abdullah1,3, Xiaoqiu Wu1,2

  • 1Law Sau Fai Institute for Advancing Translational Medicine in Bone and Joint Diseases, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
|June 2, 2022
PubMed

Insights

New nucleic acid therapies show promise for pancreatic cancer (PC) treatment. These advanced strategies, including antisense oligonucleotides and aptamer-drug conjugates, aim to improve drug delivery and reduce side effects for better outcomes in PC therapy.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Drug Discovery

Background:

  • Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a low 5-year survival rate due to its heterogeneity, dense tumor microenvironment, and poor drug penetration.
  • Current chemotherapies offer limited clinical benefit for PC treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the progress of nucleic acid-based therapies for pancreatic cancer.
  • To highlight the potential of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), messenger RNAs (mRNAs), and aptamer-drug conjugates (ApDCs) in PC treatment.

Main Methods:

  • Review of advanced progress in nucleic acid-based targeting therapies.
  • Analysis of antibody-based and aptamer-based strategies for drug accumulation in tumors.
  • Examination of specific nucleic acid modalities: ASOs, siRNAs, miRNAs, mRNAs, and ApDCs.

Main Results:

  • Nucleic acid-based therapies demonstrate potential for enhanced drug accumulation in tumors.
  • These strategies aim to reduce systemic cytotoxicity compared to traditional chemotherapy.
  • Antibody and aptamer-based approaches are key in improving targeted drug delivery.

Conclusions:

  • Nucleic acid-based therapies, including ASOs, siRNAs, miRNAs, mRNAs, and ApDCs, represent a promising direction for pancreatic cancer treatment.
  • These targeted approaches offer potential for improved efficacy and reduced side effects.
  • Further development in this area could significantly advance PC therapeutic strategies.
Keywords:
antisense oligonucleotidesaptamer-drug conjugatesnucleic acid drugspancreatic cancersmall interfering RNAstargeted therapy

More Related Videos

Therapeutic Gene Delivery and Transfection in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells using Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-targeted Gelatin Nanoparticles08:35

Therapeutic Gene Delivery and Transfection in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells using Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-targeted Gelatin Nanoparticles

Published on: January 4, 2012

28.4K
Pancreatic Duct Infusion: An Effective and Selective Method of Drug and Viral Delivery06:03

Pancreatic Duct Infusion: An Effective and Selective Method of Drug and Viral Delivery

Published on: September 30, 2021

5.0K

Related Concept Videos

Targeted Cancer Therapies02:57

Targeted Cancer Therapies

The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
7.8K
Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine02:50

Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine

Combining two or more treatment methods increases the life span of cancer patients while reducing damage to vital organs or tissue from the overuse of a single treatment. Combination therapy also targets different cancer-inducing pathways, thus reducing the chances of developing resistance to treatment.
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...
5.1K
Drug Discovery: Overview01:26

Drug Discovery: Overview

Drug discovery is a multifaceted process involving extensive screening, testing, and optimization of lead compounds to identify potential new drugs for therapeutic use. It combines several approaches, including screening large numbers of natural products, chemical modification of known active molecules, identification of new drug targets, and rational design based on biological mechanisms and drug-receptor structure. These approaches are carried out in both academic research laboratories and...
8.9K
Protein Networks02:26

Protein Networks

An organism can have thousands of different proteins, and these proteins must cooperate to ensure the health of an organism. Proteins bind to other proteins and form complexes to carry out their functions. Many proteins interact with multiple other proteins creating a complex network of protein interactions.
These interactions can be represented through maps depicting protein-protein interaction networks, represented as nodes and edges. Nodes are circles that are representative of a protein,...
4.1K
Targets for Drug Action: Overview01:26

Targets for Drug Action: Overview

Drugs target macromolecules to modify ongoing cellular processes. Primary drug targets include receptors, ion channels, transporters, and enzymes.
Receptors are either membrane-spanning or intracellular proteins, which upon binding a ligand, get activated and transmit the signal downstream to elicit a response. Drugs bind receptors, either mimicking the action of endogenous ligands or blocking the receptor activity to bring about a modified response. Nearly 35% of approved drugs target the G...
7.6K