Pancreatic Cancer News and Research

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Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of all cancer deaths in the United States and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in individuals ages 40 to 60. Approximately 37,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year, and, each year, approximately the same number die from it. Often, pancreatic cancer is found too late for surgical intervention, and chemotherapy and radiation treatments have little effect.

Vice President Biden to host Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, D.C.

Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will host a Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, D.C. at the White House. Cheryl Willman, MD, Director and CEO of The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, will attend.

25 Jun 2016

Researchers identify new potential target for pancreatic cancer treatment

Using an innovative approach to identify a cancer's genetic vulnerabilities by more swiftly analyzing human tumors transplanted into mice, researchers have identified a new potential target for pancreatic cancer treatment, published online in Cell Reports.

24 Jun 2016

New CAR-based therapy using combined cancer target could be effective for solid tumors

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), engineered from a patient's own immune cells, have been successful for treating blood cancers, but using CARs for solid tumors has been limited by side effects to normal tissues containing the protein targeted by the engineered cells.

22 Jun 2016

Molecular map of transporter proteins could be vital step toward drug discovery against zinc-related diseases

Mapping the molecular structure where medicine goes to work is a crucial step toward drug discovery against deadly diseases.

21 Jun 2016

Telephone counseling can help make cancer genetic services more accessible to rural women

Ever since Angelina Jolie used cancer genetic counseling and testing to learn about her risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, many other women have chosen to do the same.

21 Jun 2016

Researchers uncover potential therapeutic benefit of PI3K protein in PanNETs

Researchers from the 'Angiogenesis signaling pathways' research group of the Institute of Biomedical Investigation of Bellvitge, led by Dr. Mariona Graupera, have unveiled the potential therapeutic benefit of a selective inhibitior of the PI3-kinase (PI3K) protein in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs).

17 Jun 2016

Already-approved drugs can fight apoptosis evasion in cancer

Cancer cells don't die when they're supposed to. Animal and human bodies follow an orderly process of birthing new cells and killing old ones. But cancer cells escape programmed cell death, called apoptosis, and multiply uncontrollably.

15 Jun 2016

Interdisciplinary approach to improve cancer treatments

Whether it focuses on determining why certain cancers develop drug resistance, finding a way to improve individual's immune systems or better understanding cancer cell evolution, fundamental scientific research will "stand up to cancer" with three new awards from the National Science Foundation.

15 Jun 2016

Study opens up new strategy to make immunotherapy more effective for different cancer types

By combining local radiation therapy and anti-cancer vaccines with checkpoint inhibitors, researchers from the University of Chicago, working with mice, were able to increase the response rate for these new immunotherapy agents.

14 Jun 2016

New endoscopic scanner may help in early detection of cancer

UPM researchers are involved in a European network to develop an endoscopic scanner for early detection of certain types of cancers that have a high mortality rate today.

9 Jun 2016

Innovative mouse model could provide new strategy to arrest growth of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common of pancreatic cancers, is extraordinarily lethal, with a 5-year survival rate of just 6 percent. Chemotherapy treatments are poorly effective, in part due to a high degree of drug-resistance to currently used regimens.

7 Jun 2016

Metformin along with chemotherapy/radiation improves outcomes in head and neck cancer patients

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine have found that adding increasing doses of an approved Type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, to a chemotherapy and radiation treatment regimen in head and neck cancer patients is not well tolerated if escalated too quickly, but allowing slower escalation could be beneficial.

6 Jun 2016

Targeted therapy rucaparib shows promise in treating pancreatic cancer patients with BRCA mutation

The targeted therapy rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated pancreatic cancer patients with the mutation, according to results from a phase II clinical study presented by Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

6 Jun 2016

New method helps quantify HSATII RNA in blood serum of pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive and deadliest forms of cancer. Treatment options are limited because symptoms typically do not appear until the disease is advanced and complete surgical resection of tumors is not possible.

3 Jun 2016

Researchers explore use of miR-192 as clinical marker for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is regarded as the cancer type with the lowest survival rates. Fewer than seven in 100 patients survive the first five years after diagnosis. Clinicians attribute this devastating prognosis to two circumstances: Pancreatic cancers often do not cause any signs or symptoms and by the time they are detected they have already reached a very advanced stage in most cases.

2 Jun 2016

Increasing specific microRNA levels can restore chemotherapy sensitivity in pancreatic cancer cells

By increasing the level of a specific microRNA (miRNA) molecule, researchers have for the first time restored chemotherapy sensitivity in vitro to a line of human pancreatic cancer cells that had developed resistance to a common treatment drug.

27 May 2016

Advanced cancer patients lack palliative, hospice care

Medical societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, recommend that patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care soon after diagnosis and receive hospice care for at least the last three days of their life. Yet major gaps persist between these recommendations and real-life practice, a new study shows.

27 May 2016

Combining sonoporation with chemotherapy drug may help improve pancreatic cancer treatment

Researchers at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway have combined a laboratory ultrasound technique called "sonoporation" with the commercially-available chemotherapy compound Gemcitabine to increase the porosity of pancreatic cells with microbubbles and to help get the drug into cancer cells where it is needed.

26 May 2016

Combining vitamin A with chemotherapy may offer promise for pancreatic cancer treatment

Around 8,800 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. It is known as the UK's deadliest cancer, with a survival rate of just 3 per cent. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone are relatively unsuccessful in treating the disease, and while surgery to remove the tumour offers the best chance of survival, most patients are diagnosed when the cancer has already spread to other organs.

25 May 2016

Multimodal therapy may improve survival of pancreatic cancer patients

In roughly one-third of pancreatic cancer patients, tumors have grown around the pancreas to encompass critical blood vessels. Conventional wisdom has long held that surgery to remove the tumors is rarely an option, and life expectancies are usually measured in months.