Grant: Project Grant

PDAC has one of the highest mortality rates and its delayed diagnosis precludes curative resection, thus most of the current therapies against PDAC are based on chemo- and radiotherapy. PDAC has no visible symptoms or biomarkers, which hinders its early diagnosis. Interestingly, the enzyme telomerase is overexpressed in most ~80% of PDAC cases. By upregulating telomerase, these PDAC cells overcome the finite replicative life span and gain potential for unlimited growth. In fact, targeting the enzyme telomerase with inhibitors is pursued as a potential avenue for treating cancer patients. Unfortunately, despite several efforts, such inhibitors were so far ineffective in clinical trials. Here we propose to identify and validate alternative druggable targets, that are essential for the survival of telomerase overexpressing PDACs. This way, normal cells that do not express telomerase remain unaffected. The targets identified and validated in this study can eventually lead to effective pancreatic cancer therapies.