日前，日本札幌医科大学教授加藤淳二率领的研究小组在新一期美国《公共科学图书馆—综合》（PLoS ONE）上报告说，他们开发出一种治疗胰腺癌的新疗法，即利用癌细胞能吸收海藻糖的性质，在化疗过程中使癌细胞直接“吃药”，从而能够减少药量，并减小化疗药物对健康细胞的影响。
研究小组发现，胰腺癌细胞具有活跃吸收海藻糖的性质，于是将海藻糖与内部包有化疗药物的称为脂质体的薄膜结合在一起，然后注射到小鼠体内，结果成功地将药物输送到了癌细胞处。
研究小组成员、札幌医科大学讲师泷本理修说：“这是一种让癌细胞自己积极吸收化疗药物的新疗法。”研究小组今后准备开展临床试验。
研究小组认为，基于癌细胞吸收海藻糖的性质，这种方法还能够用于治疗胃癌、大肠癌和胆管癌。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039545
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Targeting Anticancer Drug Delivery to Pancreatic Cancer Cells Using a Fucose-Bound Nanoparticle Approach
Makoto Yoshida1,2, Rishu Takimoto1,2, Kazuyuki Murase1, Yasushi Sato1, Masahiro Hirakawa1,2, Fumito Tamura1,2, Tsutomu Sato1,3, Satoshi Iyama1, Takahiro Osuga1, Koji Miyanishi1, Kohichi Takada1, Tsuyoshi Hayashi1, Masayoshi Kobune3, Junji Kato
Owing to its aggressiveness and the lack of effective therapies, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has a dismal prognosis. New strategies to improve treatment and survival are therefore urgently required. Numerous fucosylated antigens in sera serve as tumor markers for cancer detection and evaluation of treatment efficacy. Increased expression of fucosyltransferases has also been reported for pancreatic cancer. These enzymes accelerate malignant transformation through fucosylation of sialylated precursors, suggesting a crucial requirement for fucose by pancreatic cancer cells. With this in mind, we developed fucose-bound nanoparticles as vehicles for delivery of anticancer drugs specifically to cancer cells. L-fucose-bound liposomes containing Cy5.5 or Cisplatin were effectively delivered into CA19-9 expressing pancreatic cancer cells. Excess L-fucose decreased the efficiency of Cy5.5 introduction by L-fucose-bound liposomes, suggesting L-fucose-receptor-mediated delivery. Intravenously injected L-fucose-bound liposomes carrying Cisplatin were successfully delivered to pancreatic cancer cells, mediating efficient tumor growth inhibition as well as prolonging survival in mouse xenograft models. This modality represents a new strategy for pancreatic cancer cell-targeting therapy.
