New possible silver lining for pancreatic cancer therapy: Hydrogen sulfide and its donors

Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B

Bo Wu¹  Fanxing Xu¹  Yan Xiao¹  Keguang Cheng²  Chao Zheng²  Jianan Sun²  Huiming Hua³  Peng Wang⁴  Xu Hu⁴  Shanshan Luo⁴  Dahong Li⁵  Bao Ji⁶ 

[1] Discovery, Ministry of Education;School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China;Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China;;Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design &Molecular Imaging Laboratory, MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA;School of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China;

关键词: Pancreatic cancer;    Hydrogen sulfide donor;    Sulfur-containing compound;    Cell proliferation;    Antitumor effect;    Signaling pathway;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

As one of the most lethal diseases, pancreatic cancer shows a dismal overall prognosis and high resistance to most treatment modalities. Furthermore, pancreatic cancer escapes early detection during the curable period because early symptoms rarely emerge and specific markers for this disease have not been found. Although combinations of new drugs, multimodal therapies, and adjuvants prolong survival, most patients still relapse after surgery and eventually die. Consequently, the search for more effective treatments for pancreatic cancer is highly relevant and justified. As a newly re-discovered mediator of gasotransmission, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) undertakes essential functions, encompassing various signaling complexes that occupy key processes in human biology. Accumulating evidence indicates that H2S exhibits bimodal modulation of cancer development. Thus, endogenous or low levels of exogenous H2S are thought to promote cancer, whereas high doses of exogenous H2S suppress tumor proliferation. Similarly, inhibition of endogenous H2S production also suppresses tumor proliferation. Accordingly, H2S biosynthesis inhibitors and H2S supplementation (H2S donors) are two distinct strategies for the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, modulation of endogenous H2S on pancreatic cancer has not been studied so far. However, H2S donors and their derivatives have been extensively studied as potential therapeutic agents for pancreatic cancer therapy by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis, arresting cell cycle, and suppressing invasion and migration through exploiting multiple signaling pathways. As far as we know, there is no review of the effects of H2S donors on pancreatic cancer. Based on these concerns, the therapeutic effects of some H2S donors and NO–H2S dual donors on pancreatic cancer were summarized in this paper. Exogenous H2S donors may be promising compounds for pancreatic cancer treatment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown