Pancreatic Cancer

Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA; TPA; Phorbol myristate acetate), a phorbol ester, is a dual SphK and protein kinase C (PKC) activator. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate is a NF-κB activator. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate induces differentiation in THP-1 cells (Validated by MedChemExpress).

Rapamycin (Sirolimus; AY 22989) is a potent and specific blood-brain barrier-transmissible mTOR inhibitor with an IC₅₀ of 0.1 nM in HEK293 cells. Rapamycin is a molecular glue that binds FKBP12 and mTOR proteins together, thereby inhibiting mTOR kinase activity. Rapamycin binds to FKBP12 and specifically acts as an allosteric inhibitor of mTORC1. Rapamycin is an autophagy activator, an immunosuppressant.

Chloroquine is an antimalarial and anti-inflammatory agent widely used to treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. Chloroquine is an autophagy and toll-like receptors (TLRs) inhibitor. Chloroquine is highly effective in the control of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection in vitro (EC₅₀=1.13 μM).

Dexamethasone (Hexadecadrol) is a glucocorticoid receptor agonist, apoptosis inducer, and common disease inducer in experimental animals, constructing models of muscle atrophy, hypertension, and depression. Dexamethasone can inhibit the production of inflammatory miRNA-155 exosomes in macrophages and significantly reduce the expression of inflammatory factors in neutrophils and monocytes. Dexamethasone also has potential for use in COVID-19 research.

Laduviglusib (CHIR-99021) is a potent, selective and orally active GSK-3α/β inhibitor with IC₅₀s of 10 nM and 6.7 nM. Laduviglusib shows >500-fold selectivity for GSK-3 over CDC2, ERK2 and other protein kinases. Laduviglusib is also a potent Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activator. Laduviglusib enhances mouse and human embryonic stem cells self-renewal. Laduviglusib induces autophagy.

Oxaliplatin is a DNA synthesis inhibitor. Oxaliplatin causes DNA crosslinking damage, prevents DNA replication and transcription and induces apoptosis. Oxaliplatin can be used for cancer research.

L-Ascorbic acid (L-Ascorbate), an electron donor, is an endogenous antioxidant agent. L-Ascorbic acid inhibits selectively Ca_v3.2 channels with an IC₅₀ of 6.5 μM. L-Ascorbic acid is also a collagen deposition enhancer and an elastogenesis inhibitor. L-Ascorbic acid exhibits anti-cancer effects through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and selective damage to cancer cells.

Sorafenib (Bay 43-9006) is a potent oral active multikinase inhibitor. Sorafenib blocks autophosphorylation and activity of receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGFR-2, VEGFR-3) and RAF family kinases, thereby suppressing the RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt pathways, inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation, and selectively inhibiting the MAPK pathway in cancer cells. Sorafenib induces cell cycle arrest, autophagy, apoptosis, and PARP cleavage, reduces Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, cyclin D1 levels, and activates Bak and Bax. Sorafenib inhibits tumor growth and metastasis in mouse and rat models. Sorafenib can be used for cancer research, such as colon, breast, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), ovarian, pancreatic, melanoma, colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma.

SB-431542 is a TGF-β receptor kinase inhibitor (TRKI). SB-431542 has inhibitory activity for ALK4, ALK5 and ALK7 with IC₅₀ values of 1 μM, 0.75 μM and 2 μM, respectively. SB-431542 also inhibits TGF-β-induced transcription, gene expression, apoptosis, and growth suppression. SB-431542 can be used for the research of cancer and signal transduction pathways.

Paclitaxel is a naturally occurring antineoplastic agent and stabilizes tubulin polymerization. Paclitaxel can cause both mitotic arrest and apoptotic cell death. Paclitaxel also induces autophagy.

Olaparib (AZD2281; KU0059436) is a potent and orally active PARP inhibitor with IC₅₀s of 5 and 1 nM for PARP1 and PARP2, respectively. Olaparib is an autophagy and mitophagy activator. Olaparib cannot cross the intact blood-brain barrier (BBB).

LY294002 is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of PI3K with IC₅₀s of 0.5, 0.57, and 0.97 μM for PI3Kα, PI3Kδ and PI3Kβ, respectively. LY294002 also inhibits CK2 with an IC₅₀ of 98 nM. LY294002 is a competitive DNA-PK inhibitor that binds reversibly to the kinase domain of DNA-PK with an IC₅₀ of 1.4 μM. LY294002 is an apoptosis activator.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is an analogue of uracil and a potent antitumor agent. 5-Fluorouracil affects pyrimidine synthesis by inhibiting thymidylate synthetase thus depleting intracellular dTTP pools. 5-Fluorouracil induces apoptosis and can be used as a chemical sensitizer. 5-Fluorouracil also inhibits HIV.

Venetoclax (ABT-199; GDC-0199) is a highly potent, selective and orally bioavailable Bcl-2 inhibitor with a K_i of less than 0.01 nM. Venetoclax induces autophagy.

Bortezomib (PS-341) is a reversible and selective proteasome inhibitor, and potently inhibits 20S proteasome (K_i=0.6 nM) by targeting a threonine residue. Bortezomib disrupts the cell cycle, induces apoptosis, and inhibits NF-κB. Bortezomib is the first proteasome inhibitor anticancer agent. Bortezomib can be used for the study of multiple myeloma (MM). Bortezomib effectively inhibits TREM2 expression in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs).

Etoposide (VP-16; VP-16-213) is an anti-cancer chemotherapy agent. Etoposide inhibits topoisomerase II, thus stopping DNA replication. Etoposide induces cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy.

Metformin (1,1-Dimethylbiguanide) inhibits the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the liver, leading to AMPK activation and enhancing insulin sensitivity, and can be used in the study of type 2 diabetes. Metformin exerts central glucose-lowering effects by inhibiting Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1) in SF1 hypothalamic neurons. Metformin also inhibits liver oxidative stress, nitrosative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis caused by liver ischemia/reperfusion injury. In addition, Metformin regulates the expression of autophagy-related proteins by activating AMPK and inhibiting the mTOR signaling pathway, thereby inducing tumor cell autophagy and inhibiting the growth of renal cell carcinoma in vitro and in vivo.

Trametinib (GSK1120212; JTP-74057) is an orally active MEK inhibitor that inhibits MEK1 and MEK2 with IC₅₀s of about 2 nM. Trametinib activates autophagy and induces apoptosis, cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), used in research related to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Gemcitabine (LY 188011) is a pyrimidine nucleoside analog antimetabolite and an antineoplastic agent. Gemcitabine inhibits DNA synthesis and repair, and can modulate autophagy. Gemcitabine induces apoptosis through the activation of p38 MAPK. Gemcitabine demonstrates efficacy in mouse models of pancreatic and breast cancer. Gemcitabine can be used for cancer research, such as pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and breast cancer.

Daraxonrasib (RMC-6236) is an orally active, non-covalent RAS (ON) inhibitor. Daraxonrasib disrupts the interaction of wild-type or mutant RAS proteins with the RAS binding domain of BRAF, with EC₅₀ values ranging from 28-220 nM for wild-type KRAS, NRAS, HRAS, and multiple oncogenic RAS variants. Daraxonrasib inhibits pERK. Daraxonrasib has anti-tumor activity against KRAS mutant tumors.