New possible silver lining for pancreatic cancer therapy:Hydrogen sulfide and its donors

• 作者: Xu Hu Yan Xiao Jianan Sun Bao Ji Shanshan Luo Bo Wu Chao Zheng Peng Wang Fanxing Xu Keguang Cheng Huiming Hua Dahong Li
• 来源期刊: 药学学报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（5）
• 所属期刊栏目: Reviews
• 页码范围: 1148-1157
• 页数: 10页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

As one of the most lethal diseases,pancreatic cancer shows a dismal overall prognosis and high resistance to most treatment modalities.Furthermore,pancreatic cancer escapes early detection dur-ing the curable period because early symptoms rarely emerge and specific markers for this disease have not been found.Although combinations of new drugs,multimodal therapies,and adjuvants prolong sur-vival,most patients still relapse after surgery and eventually die.Consequently,the search for more effec-tive treatments for pancreatic cancer is highly relevant and justified.As a newly re-discovered mediator of gasotransmission,hydrogen sulfide(H2S)undertakes essential functions,encompassing various signaling complexes that occupy key processes in human biology.Accumulating evidence indicates that H2S ex-hibits bimodal modulation of cancer development.Thus,endogenous or low levels of exogenous H2S are thought to promote cancer,whereas high doses of exogenous H2S suppress tumor proliferation.Simi-larly,inhibition of endogenous H2S production also suppresses tumor proliferation.Accordingly,H2S biosynthesis inhibitors and H2S supplementation(H2S donors)are two distinct strategies for the treatment of cancer.Unfortunately,modulation of endogenous H2S on pancreatic cancer has not been studied so far.However,H2S donors and their derivatives have been extensively studied as potential therapeutic agents for pancreatic cancer therapy by inhibiting cell proliferation,inducing apoptosis,arresting cell cycle,and suppressing invasion and migration through exploiting multiple signaling pathways.As far as we know,there is no review of the effects of H2S donors on pancreatic cancer.Based on these concerns,the ther-apeutic effects of some H2S donors and NO-H2S dual donors on pancreatic cancer were summarized in this paper.Exogenous H2S donors may be promising compounds for pancreatic cancer treatment.