Friday, August 31, 2012

Combination [of Vismodegib (GDC-0449) and Gemcitabine] therapy may help defeat pancreatic cancer

 In continuation of my update on (GDC-0449) Visodegib and Gemcitabine
GDC-0449 targets the Smoothened (SMO) protein in the Hedgehog signaling pathway. It was approved for use in basal cell carcinoma and is marketed as vismodegib. Kim and his colleagues felt that treating patients with pancreatic cancer first with GDC-0449 and then with the standard chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine might disrupt the desmoplastic stroma and improve the efficacy of the chemotherapy. 

They evaluated this strategy in treatment-naive patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patients underwent needle biopsies of the cancer before and after taking GDC-0449 for three weeks to study the effects of GDC-0449 on the Hedgehog pathway signals, tumor stroma and pancreatic cancer stem cells. Gemcitabine was added to GDC-0449 following the second biopsy.

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