Preventive effect of GV1001 on gemcitabine-induced pancreatic cancer cachexia

Abstract

GV1001 derived from the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) sequence is a peptide vaccine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The preclinical data clearly showed immunogenicity of GV1001 in patients with pancreatic cancer supported by the synergy of gemcitabine with cancer vaccines and the other positive immunomodulatory effects of gemcitabine. Even though it is reported that GV1001 may block weight loss of cancer patients and improve general condition after treatment of gemcitabine, but there are insufficient evidences so far. For this reason, we evaluate the preventive effect of GV1001 on gemcitabine-induced weigh loss in xenograft animal model. There was definite body weight loss and muscle weight loss of tumor-bearing mice by the treatment of gemcitabine. However, it was recovered by the treatment of gemcitabine with GV1001. In addition, we compared skeletal muscle proliferation and differentiation upon the treatment of gemcitabine with or without GV1001. When skeletal muscle cells were treated with gemcitabine only, the decrease of myogenesis was observed. The decrease is ameliorated by the co-treatment of GV1001. Upon investigation, the results demonstrate that GV1001 effectively prevents the loss of weight and the decrease in skeletal muscle proliferation and regeneration by gemcitabine.