Faculty Publications

The Case For Gnmt As A Biomarker And A Therapeutic Target In Pancreatic Cancer

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Biomarker, GNMT, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6-penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucopyranoside, Pancreatic cancer

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Pharmaceuticals

Volume

14

Issue

3

Abstract

The high mortality rate for pancreatic cancer (PC) is due to the lack of specific symptoms at early tumor stages and a high biological aggressiveness. Reliable biomarkers and new therapeutic targets would help to improve outlook in PC. In this study, we analyzed the expression of GNMT in a panel of pancreatic cancer cell lines and in early-stage paired patient tissue samples (normal and diseased) by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). We also investigated the effect of 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (PGG) as a therapeutic agent for PC. We find that GNMT is markedly downregulated (p < 0.05), in a majority of PC cell lines. Similar results are observed in early-stage patient tissue samples, where GNMT expression can be reduced by a 100-fold or more. We also show that PGG is a strong inhibitor of PC cell proliferation, with an IC50 value of 12 ng/mL, and PGG upregulates GNMT expression in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, our data show that GNMT has promise as a biomarker and as a therapeutic target for PC.

Department

Department of Biology

Original Publication Date

3-1-2021

DOI of published version

10.3390/ph14030209

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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