Journal article

Inhibition of p21 activated kinase enhances tumour immune response and sensitizes pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine

Kai Wang, Huynh Nhi, Xiao Wang, Graham Baldwin, Mehrdad Nikfarjam, Hong He

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY | SPANDIDOS PUBL LTD | Published : 2018

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the major types of cancer that exhibit high mortality worldwide because of the late diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment. Immunotherapy appears to be ineffective in PDA treatment due to the existence of a unique immune-suppressive microenvironment in PDA. Gemcitabine-based therapy is still the most commonly used chemotherapy to treat PDA patients with only marginal increased survival rates. This prompted us to continue the search for more effective therapy for PDA treatment. The effects of p21 activated kinases (PAKs) on tumour immune response and gemcitabine response were examined in PDA. An orthotopic murine PDA model, in which panc..

View full abstract

Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia


Funding Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Mauro S. Sandrin for help in the flow cytometry analysis. This study was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (1041831, GSB/AS), and the Pancare Foundation (GSB, MN). H.H. was supported by Baldwin trust fund. K.W. wass supported by Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarship (MIFRS), Melbourne International Research Scholarship (MIRS) and Pancare Foundation (Moshe Sambor Scholarship).