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.

Research findings suggest possible blood test to identify cancer-related DNA defects

Some surprising research findings from scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggest it's possible a simple blood test could be developed to determine whether gene mutations associated with pancreatic cancer exist without the need of locating and testing tumor tissue. This appears possible following the discovery that tiny particles the size of viruses called 'exosomes,' which are shed by cancer cells into the blood, contain the entire genetic blueprint of cancer cells. By decoding this genomic data and looking for deletions and mutations associated with cancer, the research team believes this discovery could be translated into a test that helps physicians detect cancer and treat patients.

9 Jan 2014

Cancer Treatment Centers of America recognized with Clinical Nutrition Team of Distinction Award

Cancer Treatment Centers of America has been recognized by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition with the organization's "Clinical Nutrition Team of Distinction Award". Members of the CTCA professional staff will be honored by A.S.P.E.N at its Clinical Nutrition Week Conference in Savannah, GA this January 2014. This award is presented to multi-discipline clinical teams that exemplify excellence in interdisciplinary clinical nutrition practice in compliance with A.S.P.E.N. standards, guidelines and values.

8 Jan 2014

EC grants approval for ABRAXANE in combination with gemcitabine for metastatic pancreatic cancer

Celgene International Sàrl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celgene Corporation, today announced that the European Commission has granted approval for ABRAXANE (paclitaxel formulated as albumin bound nanoparticles, or nab-paclitaxel) in combination with gemcitabine for first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

7 Jan 2014

ERYTECH proposes to broaden lead product in solid tumors, begins Phase II study in pancreatic cancer

ERYTECH Pharma (Euronext Paris: FR0011471135 - ERYP), a French biopharmaceutical company that develops innovative treatments for acute leukemia and other oncology indications with unmet medical needs, provides an update on its development plans to broaden the scope of its lead product ERYASP into the large field of solid tumors and announces the launch of a Phase II study in pancreatic cancer.

7 Jan 2014

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy grants nearly $25M to conduct cancer related gene therapy research

As the potential of gene and cell therapy in fighting cancers grows and oncologists across the nation explore the burgeoning science, doctors have uncovered a stunning development – cancers can be treated using patients' own cells as a weapon, and can eliminate the harrowing, often debilitating effects of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

28 Dec 2013

Engineered immune cells show antitumor activity in two patients with advanced cancers

Engineered immune cells, called CARTmeso cells, designed to direct antitumor immune responses toward tumors that carry a protein called mesothelin, showed antitumor activity in two patients with advanced cancers that had not responded to prior treatments, according to a study published in Cancer Immunology Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

22 Dec 2013

Researchers develop possible new method for treating pancreatic cancer

A possible new method for treating pancreatic cancer which enables the body's immune system to attack and kill cancer cells has been developed by researchers.

22 Dec 2013

Researchers discover new way to make chemotherapy treatment effective for pancreatic cancer patients

Scientists from The University of Manchester - part of Manchester Cancer Research Centre believe they have discovered a new way to make chemotherapy treatment more effective for pancreatic cancer patients.

From The University of Manchester 21 Dec 2013

Study reveals that K-Ras gene mutations behave in ways that subvert normal mechanisms of cell death

Cells with a mutation in the gene called K-Ras—found in close to 30 percent of all cancers, but mostly those with worst prognosis, such as pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer—behave in ways that subvert the normal mechanisms of cell death, according to a cell-culture study by researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah.

20 Dec 2013

FibroGen starts patient enrollment in FG-3019 Phase 2 study for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment

FibroGen, Inc., announced today that patient enrollment has started in a new Phase 2 clinical study of FG-3019 in patients who suffer from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

20 Dec 2013

Coronation street actress meets scientists working on pancreatic cancer

Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, who plays pancreatic cancer patient Hayley Cropper, has visited The University of Manchester on a fact-finding mission to look at work being done by scientists to fight the disease.

17 Dec 2013

New regulation for cancer-causing protein may help develop targeted therapies

Researchers with the Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) and the University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute have discovered a new regulation for the cancer-causing protein KRas which may help with the development of targeted therapies for patients with a KRas mutation.

17 Dec 2013

Dysfunction of retinoblastoma enables inhibitory protein to promote pancreatic cancer growth

Indiana University cancer researchers have discovered that a protein that normally suppresses tumors actually promotes the growth and spread of pancreatic cancer.

16 Dec 2013

Circulating nucleosomes and colorectal cancer diagnostics: an interview with Dr. Stefan Holdenrieder, University Hospital Bonn

For my MD thesis I modified and evaluated an immunological assay that detected the cell death products “nucleosomes” as a new blood-based cancer biomarker. As cell death processes are enhanced or suppressed during different stages of tumor development, it was assumed that they may enable stage-dependent detection of cancer disease.

12 Dec 2013

New mechanism explains why anti-tumor activity of specific immune suppressed during tumor growth

The Leuven-based VIB researchers have revealed a mechanism that explains why the anti-tumor activity of specific immune cells called macrophages is suppressed during tumor growth. They have also demonstrated that blocking the protein Nrp1 can restore this anti-tumor immune response.

12 Dec 2013

Researchers explain why anti-tumor activity of specific immune cells suppress during tumor growth

The Leuven-based VIB researchers have revealed a mechanism that explains why the anti-tumor activity of specific immune cells called macrophages is suppressed during tumor growth.

10 Dec 2013

Novel device may simplify monitoring of patients' response to treatment for ovarian cancer

A microchip-based device developed by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators may greatly simplify the monitoring of patients' response to treatment for ovarian cancer - the most lethal form of gynecologic cancer - and certain other malignancies.

6 Dec 2013

Longer reads: HIV secrets, millennials' mental health and sleeping pills without side effects

Every week reporter Ankita Rao selects interesting reading from around the Web.

6 Dec 2013

Health benefits of eating almonds

As Americans sit down to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, they often wish their family and friends good health and a long life. Good news! With nuts like almonds on the table, these sentiments are more than just a traditional toast.

27 Nov 2013

CHMP adopts positive opinion for ABRAXANE with gemcitabine for treatment of metastatic pancreas

Celgene International Sàrl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celgene Corporation, today announced that the European Medicines Agency's: Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for ABRAXANE (paclitaxel formulated as albumin bound nanoparticles, or nab-paclitaxel) in combination with gemcitabine for first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

25 Nov 2013