Abstract 2320: Ivermectin suppresses pancreatic cancer via mitochondria dysfunction

Abstract

Abstract Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive cancer characterized by high mortality and poor prognosis with survival of less than 5 years when advanced. Several studies showed that the ivermectin has antitumor effects on a variety of cancer cells. The present study represents the first study evaluating the anticancer efficacy of ivermectin in pancreatic cancer. We found that the anticancer effect of ivermectin in combination with gemcitabine on pancreatic cancer is more effective than gemcitabine alone. Ivermectin-gemcitabine combination inhibited cell proliferation via G1 arrest of the cell cycle, as evidenced by down-regulated cyclin D1 expression through mTOR/STAT3 signaling pathway. In addition, ivermectin-gemcitabine induced apoptosis by ROS generation and reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and blocked mitophagy. In vivo experiments also confirmed that ivermectin-gemcitabine groups significantly suppressed the tumor growth of pancreatic cancer compared with gemcitabine alone groups. These results indicate that ivermectin has a synergistic effect with gemcitabine in preventing cancer progression and could be a potential antitumor drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Key words: Pancreatic cancer, Gemcitabine, Ivermectin, apoptosis, ROS, mitochondria dysfunction Citation Format: daeun lee, joon seong park, yun sun lee, hyeon woong kang, hyo jung kim. Ivermectin suppresses pancreatic cancer via mitochondria dysfunction [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2320.