Cyclin-Dependent Kinases (CDK)

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) are a family of classical cell-cycle modulators by regulating crucial checkpoints in cell progression. FDA-approved CDK4/6 inhibitors have been tested in clinical trials for several solid tumors. Recently, accumulating evidences showed CDK4/6 inhibitors could trigger anti-tumor immunity in models with mouse breast cancer (Goel, et al., Nature. 2017) and lung cancer (Deng, et al., Cancer Discovery. 2018). The majority of pancreatic cancers are surgically unresectable at the time of clinical presentation, and efficacy of current therapy remains limited, resulting in strikingly poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients.

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We are actively investigating the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors combining with PD-1 inhibition and current traditional chemotherapy in treating human pancreatic cancer with the models of patient-derived xenografts (PDX), patient-derived organoids and patient-derived organotypic tumor spheroids (PDOTS).