Development of Inhibitors of cANGPTL4 for Pancreatic Cancer Therapeutics

This project seeks to develop inhibitors of a novel pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomaPDACprotein targetPDAC remains one of the deadliest cancers with an average survival ofmonths for non resectable tumorsCurrentlya major obstacle in PDAC treatment is that the cells rapidly exhibit resistance to existing untargeted treatment regimens leaving patients with no further optionsStudies indicate that inhibiting this novel protein target will be effective against the most severe forms of PDACAimof this project will expand and refine the inhibitor chemotype using computational and experimental binding measurementsAimwill experimentally validate the hits from Aimand assess specificity and mechanism of action of hit compounds in vitroFinallypreliminary ADME will be assessed on the top hitsDuring Phase IIthese data will drive medicinal chemistry design and synthesis of a lead seriesFollowed by in vivo toxicitypharmacokineticsand efficacy producing a validated and targeted PDAC therapeutic lead compound for further pre clinical studies The goal of this project is to further develop a noveltargeted pancreatic cancer therapeuticThe results of this study will refine and validate potential therapeutic compounds with desirable effects against pancreatic cancer cellsFuture efforts including animal studies could lead to desperately needed treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients