Pancreatic cancer: New approach may prolong survival
27 October, 2018
Pancreatic cancer is often very aggressive and treatment-resistant, and survival rates are typically low. The authors of a new study in mice, however, may have found a fresh way of attacking these stubborn tumors.
According to estimates by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), doctors will find 55,440 new pancreatic cancer cases in the United States in 2018 alone — these making up 3.2 percent of all new cancer diagnoses.
Pancreatic cancer tumors tend to be highly resistant to therapy, and the 5-year survival rate following treatment for this type of cancer is only 8.5 percent.
However, emerging research from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston may lead to the development of treatments that will be able to destroy pancreatic cancer cells effectively.
The study, led by Dr. Rosa Hwang, suggests that researchers should look toward a type of scar tissue — the stroma — that surrounds tumors and interacts with tumor cells to locate a better therapeutic target.
Dr. Hwang and team conducted a study of pancreatic cancer, using mouse models, which indicated that they could block the growth of cancer cells by targeting a protein produced by tumor stroma.
The researchers' results appear in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The protein that protects cancer tumors
For the most part, pancreatic stellate cells make up tumor stroma, and researchers believe that it may help protect cancer tumors. This may be because stroma is very dense, but it could also be due to specific properties of stromal cells.
According to the research conducted by Dr. Hwang's laboratory, some stromal cells — particularly pancreatic stellate cells — produce a protein called Dickkopf-3 (DKK3).
Moreover, DKK3 is present at high levels in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the type of pancreatic cancer that doctors most commonly diagnose.
The protein's activity, Dr. Hwang explains, appears to facilitate the growth of cancer cells, as well as support metastasis and protect the tumors against therapy.
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