The Case for GNMT as a Biomarker and a Therapeutic Target in Pancreatic Cancer

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-03, Vol.14 (3), p.209
Main Authors: Heinzman, Zachary, Schmidt, Connor, Sliwinski, Marek K, Goonesekere, Nalin C W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β- d -glucopyranoside
biomarker
Biomarkers
Cell culture
Cell growth
Clinical trials
Communication
Datasets
FDA approval
Genes
GNMT
Liver cancer
Medical prognosis
Pancreatic cancer
Patients
Prostate cancer
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Summary: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- -galloyl-β-d-glucopyranoside (PGG) as a therapeutic agent for PC. We find that GNMT is markedly downregulated ( < 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 IC 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.
ISSN:1424-8247
1424-8247
DOI:10.3390/ph14030209