一种由雷公藤——这是一种天然的植物产品并在传统的中医（它在中医中被称作雷公藤）中有悠久的使用历史——所提取研发出的新药看来对治疗胰腺癌有效。
该药可能对胰腺癌患者而言是一种有希望的治疗，而这些病人的治疗选择非常少。先前的研究显示，雷公藤甲素可抑制叫做HSP70的蛋白，这种蛋白可保护细胞免于死亡。胰腺癌细胞可能含有过多的这种保护性蛋白。Rohit Chugh及其同事发现，雷公藤甲素可降低细胞中的HSP70浓度并接着减少小鼠中的癌症。遗憾的是，雷公藤甲素不溶于水，因此它在身体内的作用不甚理想。
研究小组对该化合物进行了修改，其结果是得到一种新药minnelide——其命名与明尼苏达有关，因为它是在该州得以研发的——它在经过操弄之后能够更有效地被输送至胰腺细胞。
研究人员在一些试验模型——其中包括细胞系及在移植有人类胰腺肿瘤的小鼠中测试了minnelide。他们发现，在所有的情况下，该药对杀灭肿瘤细胞及缩小肿瘤效果极佳。研究人员在将minnelide用于早期临床试验之前计划下一步在较大的动物中开展毒性研究。
A Preclinical Evaluation of Minnelide as a Therapeutic Agent Against Pancreatic Cancer .
R. Chugh; V. Sangwan; S.P. Patil; V. Dudeja; R.K. Dawra; S. Banerjee; R. Schumacher; B.R. Blazar; G.I. Georg; S.M. Vickers; A.K.
Abstract：Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal human malignancies with an all-stage 5-year survival frequency of <5%, which highlights the urgent need for more effective therapeutic strategies. We have previously shown that triptolide, a diterpenoid, is effective against pancreatic cancer cells in vitro as well as in vivo. However, triptolide is poorly soluble in water, limiting its clinical use. We therefore synthesized a water-soluble analog of triptolide, named Minnelide. The efficacy of Minnelide was tested both in vitro and in multiple independent yet complementary in vivo models of pancreatic cancer: an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer using human pancreatic cancer cell lines in athymic nude mice, a xenograft model where human pancreatic tumors were transplanted into severe combined immunodeficient mice, and a spontaneous pancreatic cancer mouse model
文献链接：A Preclinical Evaluation of Minnelide as a Therapeutic Agent Against Pancreatic Cancer.
