A staff member of a hospital fills prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine for patients, May 26, 2019. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) have discovered that a compound derived from the common Chinese herbal medicine licorice can inhibit the spread of pancreatic cancer, promising new hope in the battle against cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is often called the "silent killer" because symptoms are usually difficult to detect until the disease has reached an advanced stage. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in Hong Kong.

According to the Global Cancer Statistics 2020 released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the mortality-to-incidence ratio of pancreatic cancer is greater than 93 percent.

The compound is called isoliquiritigenin (ISL). This is the first time that the anticancer potential of ISL has been reported in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Joshua Ko Ka-Shun, the lead researcher of the project, who is also the associate professor of Teaching and Research Division of the School of Chinese Medicine at HKBU, said the discovery brings hope for improved treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients and represents a significant advance in cancer research.

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The compound derived from the common Chinese herbal medicine licorice is called isoliquiritigenin (ISL). This is the first time that the anticancer potential of ISL has been reported in the treatment of pancreatic cancer

He hopes to collaborate with other scientists to explore the potential clinical application of ISL in treating pancreatic cancer.

Current treatments of pancreatic cancer, such as surgery and chemotherapy, have limitations and can cause side effects.

The HKBU research team used advanced techniques to identify ISL as a promising compound. They conducted experiments on pancreatic cancer cells and observed that ISL reduced cell growth and induced cell death. In mice models, ISL showed comparable treatment effects to a commonly used chemotherapy drug, with fewer side effects.

Moreover, ISL was found to enhance the effectiveness of existing chemotherapies for pancreatic cancer by blocking a process called autophagy, which supports cancer cell growth.

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The research findings have been published in the international academic journal Phytomedicine and recently presented in the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research 2023 in Torino, Italy.