Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine scientists have identified a previously unrecognized connection between two proteins that help pancreatic tumor cells survive against oxidative stress. Exploiting this connection could offer a new treatment approach not only for pancreatic cancer, but also other tumors that rely on the redox pathway.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer that is highly resistant to therapy, surviving despite hypoxia, oxidative stress, and nutrient deprivation, explain Mark Kelley, PhD, Betty and Earl Herr Professor of Pediatric Oncology Research at the IU School of Medicine, and study co-authors in Redox Biology .

They say that the redox effector factor-1 (Ref-1) protein plays a key role in overcoming oxidative stress in pancreatic

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