Inhibition of Hedgehog Signaling Enhances Delivery of Chemotherapy in a Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer

It's All in the Delivery Pancreatic cancer is almost universally associated with a poor prognosis, in part because the tumors are resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. Working with a mouse tumor model that displays many features of the human disease, Olive et al. (p. 1457 , published online 21 May; see the Perspective by Olson and Hanahan ) found that the tumors were poorly vascularized, a factor likely to impede drug delivery. Treatment of the mice with the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine in combination with a drug that depletes tumor-associated stromal tissue led to an increase in tumor vasculature, enhanced delivery of gemcitabine, and a delay in disease progression. Thus, drugs targeting the tumor stroma may merit investigation as a way to enhance the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.