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.

Cancer prevention

Tapping into a growing body of knowledge about the origins and progression of cancer, researchers are now developing and testing new preventive therapies to stop it in its tracks.

15 Apr 2008

Blood pressure drugs halt pancreatic cancer cell growth

Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are inching closer to understanding how common blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer.

15 Apr 2008

Salivary diagnostics

Accuracy, convenience, and non-invasiveness are the most critical characteristics for any diagnostic tool.

7 Apr 2008

Genetic variations raise lung cancer risk for smokers and ex-smokers

Two common inherited genetic variations are associated with increased risk of lung cancer for smokers and former smokers, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports April 2 in the online edition of Nature Genetics.

3 Apr 2008

Light-powered nanomachine kills cancer cells

Researchers from the Nano Machine Center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a novel type of nanomachine that can capture and store anticancer drugs inside tiny pores and release them into cancer cells in response to light.

2 Apr 2008

Saving cancer patients' skin

Becky Sasaki has the quick laugh and easy smile of a woman who continues to thrive despite her four-year wrestling match with lung cancer.

31 Mar 2008

Spit in a cup to replace needle pricks

One day soon patients may spit in a cup, instead of bracing for a needle prick, when being tested for cancer, heart disease or diabetes.

26 Mar 2008

Red wine antioxidant resveratrol kills cancer

Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function.

26 Mar 2008

New surgery technique for pancreatic cancer offers hope to sufferers

Just days after it was announced in the media that Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze was being treated for pancreatic cancer, doctors in Britain have performed a new operation for people with the advanced stage of the disease.

11 Mar 2008

Chemotherapy with chemoradiation for pancreatic cancer has small survival benefit

The addition of the drug gemcitabine with chemoradiation for the treatment of patients who had surgery for pancreatic cancer was associated with a survival benefit, although this improvement was not statistically significant, according to a study in the March 5 issue of JAMA.

6 Mar 2008

Patrick Swayze's battle with pancreatic cancer

It has been revealed that Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze is being treated for pancreatic cancer.

5 Mar 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

Mesothelin appears to play important role in promoting pancreatic cancer growth - clues to new treatments

New understanding of a protein that spurs the growth of pancreatic cancer could lead to a new vaccine against the deadly disease, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report appearing in the current edition of the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

17 Feb 2008

Study confirms safety of BrachySil for treatment of inoperable pancreatic cancer

The results of a Phase IIa clinical trial of BrachySil for the treatment of advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer were presented at American Society of Clinical Oncolgy-GI (ASCO-GI) this weekend in a poster presented by Dr. Paul Ross, Chief Investigator in the study and Consultant Medical Oncologist at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

30 Jan 2008

Link between microRNA expression patterns and poor outcomes for colon cancer

Preliminary research has found an association between certain microRNA expression patterns and poor survival and treatment outcomes for colon cancer, according to a study in the January 30 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

30 Jan 2008

Smaller pancreatic tumors greatly increase survival odds

The odds of surviving cancer of the pancreas increase dramatically for patients whose tumors are smallest, according to a new study by researchers at Saint Louis University and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston - the first study to specifically evaluate the link between tumor size and survival rates for one of the most common and deadly cancers.

28 Jan 2008