Targeting pancreatic cancer with gemcitabine

Gemcitabine is an effective anticancer drug in pancreatic cancer, but it's hard to get enough of the drug into the tumor without harming the healthy tissues around. In a study published in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, U.S. researchers have tagged gemcitabine polymers with an RNA aptamer, a short strand of RNA, designed to bind to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). This is overexpressed on the surface of many pancreatic cancer cells. If this approach works, it could be adapted for other drugs and other targets. Abstract | More