"Open Sesame?": Biomarker Status of the Human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter-1 and Molecular Mechanisms Influencing its Expression and Activity in the Uptake and Cytotoxicity of Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer

Despite the enormous advance in biomarker discovery, many potential biomarkers of drug activity are unable to satisfy the clinical need due to inadequate sensitivity and specificity. The nucleoside transporter hENT-1 has been studied as a potential biomarker to predict the effect of the widely used...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancers 2020, Vol.12 (11), p.1
Main Authors: Randazzo, Ornella, Papini, Filippo, Mantini, Giulia, Gregori, Alessandro, Parrino, Barbara, Liu, Daniel S.K, Cascioferro, Stella, Carbone, Daniela, Peters, Godefridus J, Frampton, Adam E, Garajova, Ingrid, Giovannetti, Elisa
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological markers
Complications and side effects
Dosage and administration
Drug therapy
Evaluation
Gemcitabine
Health aspects
Pancreatic cancer
Toxicity
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Summary:Despite the enormous advance in biomarker discovery, many potential biomarkers of drug activity are unable to satisfy the clinical need due to inadequate sensitivity and specificity. The nucleoside transporter hENT-1 has been studied as a potential biomarker to predict the effect of the widely used anticancer drug gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer. However, several studies showed controversial results regarding the predictive value of hENT-1, prompting new analyses with larger cohorts of patients and standardized methodologies. Improved insights on molecular mechanisms underlying hENT-1 expression and activity should also help in the identification of subsets of patients who are more likely to benefit from specific treatments and improve their clinical outcome. The establishment of such biomarker is especially valuable in pancreatic cancer, which is frequently characterized by complex disease biology and high mortality.
ISSN:2072-6694
2072-6694
DOI:10.3390/cancers12113206