Blocking digestive hormone prevents pancreatic cancer

<p>Washington DC, [USA] Aug 03 (ANI): Turns out, blocking Cholecystokinin (CCK), a digestive hormone, can help in preventing pancreatic cancer.</p><p>In comparison to the recent research, previous ones have shown that obesity and high-fat diets both together as well as independently increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.</p><p>CCK is released by the small intestine and is associated with obesity. Dietary fat triggers the secretion of CCK and those who follow a diet high in saturated fats often have high levels of CCK.</p><p>CCK also regulates regeneration that takes place after partial surgical removal of the pancreas.</p><p>Pancreatic growth and regeneration occur through the interaction of CCK with CCK receptors, proteins that bind to CCK to produce a physiological reaction.</p><p>In separate studies conducted on mices involved the interactions between dietary fat, CCK, and pancreatic cancer cell growth.</p><p>In all studies, half the mice were fed a high-fat diet and the other half followed a normal diet.</p><p>In the first study, half of the animals were treated with proglumide, a medication that blocks CCK. In the second study, the mice had tumours lacking CCK. In the third study, the mice were deficient in CCK and had pancreatic tumours.</p><p>After the three studies were conducted, it was found that mice treated with proglumide had less tumour growth than the untreated mice, even when fed a high-fat diet. The mice lacking CCK also did not respond to a high-fat diet. These results suggest that CCK is needed to stimulate the growth of pancreatic cancer.</p><p>The high-fat-diet-fed mice lacking CCK receptors did not show any tumour growth, suggesting that without receptors to bind to, increased CCK from dietary fat is unable to promote cancer.</p><p>Proglumide treatment also protected the mice from the development of excessive fibrous tissue (fibrosis) that can be associated with cancer metastases and resistance to chemotherapy.</p><p>"Most patients with advanced pancreatic cancer succumb to the disease due to metastases; therefore a compound that blocks metastases, even when the primary tumour size is large, may have clinical significance," the researchers wrote.</p><p>"CCK [receptor] blockade may play a role in the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer," the researchers added.</p><p>The study appeared in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. (ANI)</p><br/><center><em><p>This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI</p></em></center>

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