WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University reported on Tuesday that they have found anew chemoprevention gene therapy for preventing and treating pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal and treatment-resistant forms of cancer.

    In the latest issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, the researchers showed that combining a dietary agent with a gene-delivered cytokine effectively eliminates human pancreatic cancer cells in mice.

    Cytokines are a category of proteins that are secreted into the circulation and can affect cancer cells at distant sites in the body. The dietary agent, perillyl alcohol (POH), was combined with a special cytokine, which is already used in other cancer treatments.

    POH is found in a variety of plants, including citrus plants, and has been well-tolerated by patients who have received it in clinical studies.

    The results indicated that the this approach not only prevented pancreatic cancer growth and progression, but it also effectively killed established tumors, thereby displaying profound chemopreventive and therapeutic activity.

    "Our hypothesis was that certain non-toxic dietary agents that had the ability to promote reactive oxygen species would break down pancreatic cancer cell resistance to therapy following administration of a cytokin and be safe for human use," said Paul Fisher, the study's lead author. "We are very excited at the prospect of this chemoprevention gene therapy as a means of both preventing and treating pancreatic cancer, and it has significant potential to move rapidly into human clinical trials."

    Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent, and currently there is no effective chemotherapy or radiation therapy for it.