Erxi Wu, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, co-wrote the review article, “Hyperglycemia as a mechanism of pancreatic cancer metastasis,” which has been accepted by Frontiers in Bioscience.
According to the authors, metastasis poses the largest problem in cancer treatment and is the main cause of death of cancer patients as a vital step in the progression of cancer. In pancreatic cancer, almost 80 percent of patients have locally deteriorated or metastatic disease and thus are not appropriate for resection at the time of diagnosis. Due to the high rate of incidence and mortality, it is crucial to study the molecular mechanisms of metastasis to clarify therapeutic targets to hinder the spread of cancer. Diabetes mellitus has long been considered a potential risk factor for pancreatic cancer.
“In this review article, we comprehensively describe the role of hyperglycemia in governing critical steps of the metastatic process. In particular, we focus on the hyperglycemia-dependent aspects of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and vascular dysfunction. Also, we discuss how hyperglycemia-related production of reactive oxygen species may play an important role in these two processes. A deep understanding of metastasis mechanisms will identify novel targets for cancer therapeutic intervention,” Wu said.
The paper was co-written with Qingyong Ma lab at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. “We have established a productive collaboration with the Ma lab in finding cancer therapeutics and elucidating the mechanisms of the targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal malignancies,” Wu said.
The journal Frontiers in Bioscience is a modern forum for scientific communication. Data and information that are useful to investigators in any discipline in biology and medicine including cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology, biotechnology, microbiology, parasitology virology, and data that include movies, databases or bioinformatics will be published after peer review. The journal also publishes a variety of data useful to scientists and physicians. It received an impact factor 4.048 in 2010.