Medical Advancements
Learn about research and the latest advancements that are striving to combat pancreatic cancer
What is pancreatic cancer?
Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the tissues of your pancreas, which is an organ found in your abdomen and located behind the lower part of your stomach. The pancreas releases enzymes that help with digestion and creates hormones that help keep blood sugar level balanced.
Pancreatic cancer is rarely detected at its early stages when it’s most curable because it often doesn’t cause symptoms until after it has spread. According to the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer develops over several years in steps known as pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN).
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According to the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the U.S. and about 7% of all cancer deaths. It is slightly more common in men than in women.
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Sources:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/pancreatic-cancer.html
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pancreatic-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20355421
Chemo & Radiation
Chemotherapy
Various clinical trials are trying new chemotherapy drug combinations to treat pancreatic cancer. Studies are looking to see if combining the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine with other drugs can help patients live longer. There are also newer chemotherapy drugs and combinations being tested.
Radiation Therapy
One type of radiation therapy is intraoperative radiation therapy, which is a single large dose of radiation is applied to the area of cancer in the operating room during surgery.
Another type is the proton beam radiation therapy, which uses a unique radiation type that may do less damage to nearby normal cells.
Immune Therapy
Monoclonal Antibodies
Clinical trials only.
Injections of this man-made antibody proteins focus on a specific molecule, like carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) which is sometimes found on the surface of pancreatic cancer cells. Toxins or radioactive atoms are often paired with antibodies to work to find the tumor cells and destroy the cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone.
Cancer Vaccines
Clinical trials only.
These vaccines are created to help treat and not prevent pancreatic cancer, and they usually have very limited side effects
Drugs Targeting Immune System Checkpoints
Our immune systems normally keep themselves from attacking other normal cells in the body by using “checkpoints”. These “checkpoints” are actually proteins on immune cells that must be activated/inactivated to begin an immune response. Cancer cells sometimes use the checkpoints to avoid being attacked by the immune system. There are new drugs that target these checkpoints.
More Advancements
Targeted Therapy
This is an active area of cancer research. Targeted drugs, compared to chemotherapy drugs, attack only certain targets on cancer cells or nearby cells. Usually, these drugs have different side effects than traditional chemo drugs.
Therapy Individualization
Individualization of therapy is an intense area of study, as some drug and treatment combinations work better for certain patients than with other patients with pancreatic cancer.
Genetics
Scientists are continuing to discover more about gene changes in pancreas cells that cause them to become cancer. Researches look at how genes may be altered in pancreatic cancers that aren’t inherited.
There are developing tests for detecting acquired (not inherited) gene changes in pancreatic pre-cancerous situations. As of now, imaging tests such as endoscopic ultrasounds (EU), Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and genetic tests for changes in certain genes are options for those with strong family histories of pancreatic cancer.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are studies where people volunteer to get involved in testing new drugs or procedures and could be used for pancreatic cancer treatment.
For more information, please check out these links: