According to the National Cancer Institute, pancreatic cancer kills 50,000 people each year, and there are few effective treatment options. Now, a new mouse study by researchers at the University of California (UC), San Diego, School of Medicine demonstrates that the enzyme MICAL2 which normally plays a role in cell…

A new study led by researchers from the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, has, for the first time, detected pre-cancerous lesions in the pancreas using diffusion tensor imagining (DFI). Reporting on their work in the journal Investigative Radiology, the investigators detailed how they used DFI, a specialized form of MRI…

A Phase III trial of a wearable electric field treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer, developed by Swiss biotech Novocure, met its primary endpoint and significantly improved patient survival time. These results are important, as this kind of cancer is notoriously difficult to treat so even small improvements in patient outcomes…

A new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Oregon Health & Science University has found that a combination of two drugs could turn pancreatic tumors, which are typically resistant to immunotherapy, into more immune-responsive cancers. Published in Nature Communications, the study offers promising insights into…

A new study demonstrates an immunotherapy-based approach to pancreatic cancer treatment in mice that combines the delivery of STING and TLR4 innate immune agonists using lipid-based nanoparticles (NPs), with the tumor-targeting MEK inhibitor trametinib and CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib, known as T/P. Led by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst…

Current pancreatic cancer (PC) markers are too insensitive and unspecific for early detection screenings. Now, an international research team has now reported on the development of a new pancreatic cancer test that uses nanoparticle probes to selectively detect tumor associated autoantibodies against mucin-1 (MUC1) in blood sera. The team, headed…

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help endoscopists to identify which solid lesions in the pancreas are cancerous and may be particularly useful for those with less experience, trial findings suggest. The randomized, crossover-study revealed positive results from human-AI interaction and showed its potential for facilitating a clinical diagnosis. The joint AI…

Investigators at Stanford University have discovered the role of cell stiffness and the chemical makeup of pancreatic cancer tissue has in its resistance to chemotherapy. The research, published in Nature Materials, suggests that treatment resistance can be reversed and has uncovered new potential therapeutic targets to do this. “We found…

In a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers have made groundbreaking discoveries about the pre-metastatic environment in the liver in the context of pancreatic cancer. Their findings reveal potential new strategies for monitoring and treating patients with the disease, and provide insights into the prognosis for metastases. The idea of…

Researchers have known that in up to one in 10 pancreatic cancer cases, some of the pancreatic cells appear to have lost their identity. Now, however, Maia-Silva and colleagues at CSHL have uncovered how the MED12 protein may play a critical role in this process. The findings are published a…

New research has unveiled a key relationship between two proteins that causes a unique subtype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cancer (PDAC) known as basal-like pancreatic cancer, which affects around 15% of PDAC patients. This subtype exhibits an unusual transformation, causing the pancreatic cells to take on characteristics akin to skin…

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and colleagues, via two separate articles “Defining the KRAS- and ERK-dependent transcriptome in KRAS-mutant cancers,” and “Determining the ERK-regulated phosphoproteome driving KRAS-mutant cancer,” published today in Science, say they have developed the most comprehensive molecular portrait of the oncogene KRAS and how its activities…

A simplified version of multi-omics testing that involves just one blood sample per year can detect the particularly difficult-to-diagnose condition of early pancreatic cancer, a case report has shown. The researchers believe their longitudinal multi-omics monitoring (LMOM) system is more practical than existing approaches, deploying fewer measurements, annual sampling, and…

An exosome-based liquid biopsy accurately detected 97 percent of stage 1–2 pancreatic cancers when combined with the biomarker CA 19-9 (cancer antigen 19-9), which is a known marker of the disease but not considered specific enough alone as a screening tool. The researchers used genome-wide expression profiling of patient and…

Researchers from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have shown that an experimental investigational mRNA-based vaccine candidate shows potential to stimulate the immune system which may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer returning after surgery. In new results from a Phase I trial, the candidate, autogene cevumeran, activated immune…