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