Funded by the V Foundation Wine Celebration in honor of Mike “Coach K” and Mickie Krzyzewski
Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Treatments have changed very little in recent years. One challenge is that there are different “subtypes” of pancreatic cancer, so tailored therapies are desperately needed. Our lab found that drugs that block a protein called cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) can kill the basal subtype, which is the most lethal. It makes up a quarter of pancreatic tumors and has the worst overall survival. We propose to study a drug that blocks CDK7 in patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer, after chemotherapy and before surgery. This funding will allow us to work with Carrick Therapeutics, who is giving us a supply of drug for the clinical trial. Our ultimate goal is to offer a new targeted treatment option and hope to pancreatic cancer patients.
