Pancreatic cancer is the 4<sup>th</sup> leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Relative to other cancers, it is particularly deadly due primarily to ineffective early detection techniques and limited effective treatments. The National Cancer Institute predicts that in 2015, nearly 50,000 people will be diagnosed with, and 40,000 people will die from, pancreatic cancer. Using molecular biology techniques, this research explores the mechanism by which a series of promising anticancer compounds discovered in our laboratory exhibit selective cytotoxic activity against the pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line, PANC-1. These compounds are derivatives of Angelmarin, a natural anti-cancer compound extracted from the root of the Japanese medicinal plant <i>Angelica pubescens</i>. Furthermore, our compounds target PANC-1 cells exclusively under nutrient-deprived conditions, representative of a tumor’s microenvironment. In this study, we report efforts to identify the molecular mechanism of action by which our isoprenylated compounds exert their antiproliferative activity.

Investigating the mechanism of action of isoprenylated coumarins against pancreatic cancer

251st National Meeting (2016)

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