Assessing the Effect Inhibitors of Succinate Dehydrogenase and Glycolysis have on Normal Pancreatic Cells

Presenter(s)

Megan Nicholls, Kyla Pederson

Abstract or Description

Cancer cells have an altered metabolism that can be targeted for the treatment of cancer, while normal cells should remain unaffected by treatment for safety of the patient. Previous research performed in our lab has shown that combining Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor (SDHI) fungicides, boscalid or oxycarboxin, with a glucose analog, 2-deoxy-glucose (2DG), has a synergistic effect on decreasing the clonogenic survival of pancreatic ductal carcinoma and adenocarcinoma cells. The goal of this project was to determine the ability of noncancerous immortalized pancreatic ductal epithelial cells (H6c7) to survive treatment with the boscalid/oxycarboxin and 2DG. To test this, H6c7 cells were treated with either boscalid or oxycarboxin in the presence and absence of 2DG for 24 h, and then colonies were allowed to form for 2 weeks. Colonies were stained with Coomassie blue and counted to determine clonogenic survival. Clonogenic survival of these noncancerour cells was compared to survival of the pancreatic ductal carcinoma and adenocarcinoma cells. This work is important because it helps identify potential treatments that will preferentially kill cancer cells compared to their normal, noncancerous counterpart.This research is funded by Lueken’s Cancer Scholars Fund, Beitzel Student Research Fund, and Bemidji State University New Faculty Grant.

Mentor

Kjerstin Owens