A New Hope For Pancreatic Cancer: Battling The K-Ras G12D Mutation

 A New Hope For Pancreatic Cancer: Battling The K-Ras G12D Mutation

An Image Showing Pancreatic Tissue

Targeting the Troublemaker Mutation

Pancreatic cancer, which sadly takes over 50,000 lives each year in the U.S., might have met its match. Scientists at UC San Francisco have come up with a hopeful idea for a drug that could help treat this tough cancer.

The main villain in pancreatic cancer is a sneaky mutation called K-Ras G12D. It's responsible for nearly half of all pancreatic cancer cases. But here's the thing: it's really hard to stop.

Scientists at UC San Francisco, led by Dr. Kevan Shokat, worked for over ten years to figure out a way to stop this mutation. Finally, they found a molecule that can stick to the K-Ras G12D to stop it from causing trouble.

K-Ras mutations are extremely common in pancreatic cancer, explaining 90% of cases. About half of these mutations are G12D, which differs from most other K-Ras mutations by a single amino acid substitution.

Dr. Shokat’s team envisioned a molecule that fits into a pocket of the K-Ras protein, then firmly – and irreversibly – bound to the rogue amino acid.

Eventually, they found a winning molecule. It settled into the appropriate corner of K-Ras and bent into a new shape that reacted strongly with the aspartate. The molecule put the brakes on tumor growth from G12D in cancer cell lines, as well as an animal model of human cancer. And it never attacked healthy proteins.

The researchers are currently enhancing the molecule to ensure its effectiveness in combating cancer within the human body. The researchers expressed confidence that new treatments for pancreatic cancer could advance to clinical trials within a relatively short timeframe of two to three years!

Citations and To learn more, read this article!: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/03/427231/can-new-drug-candidate-cure-pancreatic-cancer