42 | DECEMBER 26 • 2019 

M

ore than three-fourths (77 
percent) of patients suffering 
from stage IV metastatic 
pancreatic adenocarcinoma (pancreatic 
cancer) and treated with a protocol 
developed by an Israel-based biophar-
maceutical company were able to get 
their disease under control, according 
to results of an ongoing study reported 
in the Jerusalem Post.
Modi’
in-based BioLineRx revealed 
updated data from the triple combi-
nation arm of its ongoing study that 
shows double the positive effect on the 
treatment of pancreatic cancer com-
pared to the approved second-line 
chemotherapy treatment for the dis-
ease.
Almost a third of patients from the 
study who could be evaluated saw a 
reduction in tumor size; another 45 
percent were able to stabilize the dis-
ease, meaning that tumor size neither 
grew nor was reduced by much over 
the course of the trial.
Moreover, he said that pancreatic 
cancer has developed mechanisms 
that enable it to protect itself from the 
body’
s immune system.
In the Jerusalem Post story, Philip 
Serlin, CEO of BioLineRx, explained: 
“It builds sort of an immunosuppres-
sive environment that surrounds it — a 
shell so to speak — that does not allow 
the body’
s immune system to attack the 
cancer the way it can attack some other 

cancers.
“Immunotherapies have become the 
holy grail of cancer treatment, but they 
don’
t work on pancreatic cancer.
”
Recent results indicate that 
BioLineRx’
s BL-8040, administered in 
combination with chemotherapy and 
Keytruda, might be that combination.
In this triple combination arm pro-
tocol, patients receive BL-8040 mono-
therapy priming treatment for five 
days, followed by combination cycles of 
chemotherapy, Keytruda and BL-8040, 
until progression.
BL-8040 is a platform molecule, 
Serlin explained. It can be combined 
with many different agents potentially 
to work in various areas of the cancer 
space. Already, BL-8040 is being tested 
in human clinical trials to successfully 
treat acute myeloid leukemia and stem 
cell mobilization for bone marrow 
transplantation in multiple myeloma.
Serlin described the BioLineRx 
and Merck combination as having an 
“extremely encouraging effect.
”
Also encouraging is news report-
ed from Israel 21C. A little molecule 
named PJ34 can cause cancer cells to 
self-destruct, according to an Israeli 
study published recently in the 
biomedical journal Oncotarget.
Prof. Malka Cohen-Armon and her 
team at Tel Aviv University’
s Sackler 
Faculty of Medicine did their experi-
ment using xenografts — transplanta-

tions of human pancreatic cancer 
into mice. The mice’
s immune 
systems were compromised so 
that their bodies wouldn’
t reject 
the transplanted cells.
In collaboration with Dr. 
Talia Golan’
s team at the Cancer 
Research Center at Sheba 
Medical Center, the scientists 
injected PJ34 into the mice for 14 
days in a row.
PJ34 originally was developed 
to treat stroke. But it has been 
found to have a powerful effect 
on human cancer cells. The 
molecule causes something to go 
wrong during cell duplication, 
leading to rapid cell death.
A month after the molecule was 
administered, the number of cancer 
cells in the mice’
s tumors were found 
to be reduced by 80 to 90 percent. One 
mouse’
s tumor completely disappeared.
Cohen-Armon noted that the treated 
mice suffered no adverse effects from 
the PJ34 molecule regimen, nor did 
they experience changes in their weight 
or behavior.
Also significant is that the PJ34 mol-
ecule exclusively interrupts the dupli-
cation of human cancer cells, leaving 
normal cells alone.
Although PJ34 could work on other 
types of cancer cells, pancreatic cancer 
presents a pressing need. Early diag-
nosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult, 
as often there are no symptoms. As a 
result, around 80 percent of patients 
are diagnosed at the metastatic stage 
and fewer than 3 percent of patients at 
the metastatic stage survive more than 
five years after diagnosis.
Therefore, the Israeli research holds 
great potential for the development 
of a new effective therapy to treat this 
aggressive cancer in humans. It could 
also prove effective against aggressive 
forms of breast, lung, brain and ovarian 
cancer.
The molecule PJ34 now is being 
tested in pre-clinical trials according to 
FDA regulations before larger animal 
trials and then human clinical trials 
can begin. 

Pancreatic Cancer

Israeli treatment protocols are showing promise. 

Health 

