A new liposomal formulation of Gemcitabine is active in an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer accessible to bioluminescence imaging

It seems there is slowly but surely a certain target area of searches on the Alternative Medicine Blog emerging. The area of most interest seems to be in response to my post dealing with Pancreatic Cancer. Just recently Dinora posted a comment that was very heart warming and brought back memories of my dad's struggle with cancer. Here it is. "I definitely agree with you, we need to become more educated. My husband has Pancreatic Ca and this only helps me reinforce my thoughts of both western and alternative medicine. It is nice for someone like me that is 24-7 by my husband's bedside in the hospital and out to try to research on a lot of different alternatives. However, I know it needs to be done,but your article will give me a jump start. Thank you."

It seems that Dinora is doing the right thing in researching everything there is to know about her husband's disease. On the other hand, it encouraged me to hone in on the subject of pancreatic cancer in coming posts, to help Dinora and other's to find answers to pressing questions. Such as:

What is survival time? What are the chances of survival? What are the survival rates? What causes pancreatic cancer? What are the best treatment options, both Western and Alternative?

I am hoping to compile a list of posts that will at least scratch the surface and shed light on the latest research in combating this unforgiving disease. Lets start with some promising research from the Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, still in the animal testing phase.

In this research the goal was to develop a longer lasting version of Gemcitabine, the standard drug for Pancreatic cancer. In vivo, Gemcitabine is inactivated rather quickly by enzymatic action, hence loosing potency. The researchers in Germany developed a liposomal [1] formulation of Gemcitabine in order to protect the drug and achieve passive tumor targeting, called GemLip. The text below is directly quoted from the research paper:

Its anti-tumoral activity was tested on MIA PaCa-2 cells growing orthotopically in nude mice. Bioluminescence measurement mediated by the stable integration of the luciferase gene was employed to randomize the mice, and monitor tumor growth. GemLip (4 and 8 mg/kg), Gemcitabine (240 mg/kg), and empty liposomes (equivalent to 8 mg/kg GemLip) were injected intravenously once weekly for 5 weeks. GemLip (8 mg/kg) stopped tumor growth, as measured via in vivo bioluminescence, reducing the primary tumor size by 68% (SD +- 8% p < 0.02), whereas Gemcitabine hardly affected tumor size (-7% +- 1.5%). In 80% of animals, luciferase activity in the liver indicated the presence of metastases. All treatments, including the empty liposomes, reduced the metastatic burden. Thus, GemLip shows promising antitumoral activity in this model. [2]

The finding, as you can see above was that GemLip stopped tumor growth and decreased tumor size by 68%. In contrast Gemcitabine did have very small effects on tumor size.

This is rather promising news from the realm of Pancreatic Cancer research. Stay posted for updates.

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

1. an artificial vesicle that is composed of one or more concentric phospholipid bilayers and is used especially to deliver microscopic substances (as DNA or drugs) to body cells. http://medical.merriam-webster.com/medical/liposomal

2. C. Bornmann, R. Graeser, N. Esser, V. Ziroli, P. Jantscheff, T. Keck, C. Unger, U. T. Hopt, U. Adam, C. Schaechtele, U. Massing, and E. Dobschuetz. Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology 61.3 (March 2008): p.395(11). From Academic OneFile.

Comments

[Ruth]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Ruth

http://www.infrared-sauna-spot.info

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