Nelfinavir molecule (no copyright)
Welcome to Weirdbeautiful.
Today's links are both on the subject of Pancreatic cancer. Long-feared as one of the most difficult cancers to treat, Pancreatic cancer has been the subject of two interesting articles in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper this year- the first of these, published back in February is this article by Richard Alleyne, reporting a study showing a connection between consumption of sugary soft-drinks (but not fruit juice) and increased incidence of pancreatic cancer. You can read the full newspaper article here- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7168769/Soft-drink-consumption-may-increase-risk-of-pancreatic-cancer.html
The study described in the article was by Noel T. Mueller and collegaues - you can find an abstract of it [here]- http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/19/2/447.abstract
Last Sunday, however, The Telegraph published the much gladder tidings that the anti-HIV drug Nelfinavir is showing remarkable and unexpected promise as a treatment for Pancreatic cancer. There is a blog post on that subject [here]-http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118819.php
you can find the full telegraph article online [HERE] - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/telegraphchristmasappeal/8164996/Telegraph-Christmas-Appeal-Last-year-I-was-dying-of-cancer.-Now-I-might-be-cured.html
Nelfinavir (also known as "Viracept") is a protease inhibitor - as its name suggests, it works against the HIV virus by preventing the virus's protease enyme from functioning. In cancer it seems to interfere with communication (cell signalling) processes of cancerous pancreatic
cells and to render them more vulnerable to being killed by radiotherapy.
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