A study published 4 days ago on Science was shown that bacteria could potentially mediate tumor resistance to the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine, which was commonly used for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC).
In the research, Geller et al. showed that Gammaproteobacteria expressed cytidine deaminase (CDDL), which could metabolize gemcitabine (2’, 2’-difluorodeoxycytidine) into its inactive form, 2’, 2’ -difluorodeoxyuridine. It had been confirmed in a colon cancer mouse model that the tumors became resistant to gemcitabine. However, gemcitabine resistance would be eliminated by the mixture of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
These results suggested that the efficacy of an existing therapy for PDAC might be improved as the cooperation with antibiotics.
DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5043