Research offers new insight into pancreatic cancer

25th February 2016 - Scientists say pancreatic cancer is 4 separate diseases - a discovery that could lead to new treatment opportunities.

Pancreatic cancer is the 10th most common cancer in the UK and the fifth most common cause of cancer death.

By the time people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, they often have a poor prognosis because the disease can progress undetected within the pancreas for up to 15 to 20 years. By the time they seek medical advice, they may be in the later stages of the disease.

The study in the journal Nature examined cancer in 456 patients.

Targeted treatments

The researchers say they hope that their findings will lead to more targeted treatments for each individual subtype of the disease. They say that, currently, treatments are not selective and are described by one of the scientists involved as "like hitting the disease with a mallet with your eyes closed".

According to co-author Professor Andrew Biankin from the University of Glasgow, "The four subtypes that we have identified represent a reclassification of the disease and as such should provide a basis to offer new insights into personalised therapeutic options for individual patients and a launch pad to investigate new treatments."

Subtypes

The 4 subtypes of pancreatic cancer have been named:

• Squamous
• Pancreatic Progenitor
• Aberrantly Differentiated Endocrine eXocrine (ADEX)
• Immunogenic

The authors say identifying the immunogenic subtype because it could potentially prove to be responsive to types of immunotherapeutic cancer treatments.

"The novel immunogenic subtype of pancreatic cancer is characterised by specific mechanisms that can potentially be targeted using immune modulators, and testing in clinical trials is encouraged," says Professor Biankin.

'Exciting'

Commenting on the findings in a statement, Leanne Reynolds, head of research at Pancreatic Cancer UK, says: "The findings of this research are incredibly exciting for anyone affected by pancreatic cancer, as they should mean that in the future the right patients can be given the right treatment at the right time. This is crucial for people with pancreatic cancer, because the disease is difficult to diagnose, is often diagnosed terribly late, and just 4% of people live for 5 years or more after diagnosis.

"If we can predict more accurately which treatment would be most effective for each patient, we can ensure patients have the best chance of living for as long as possible, as well as possible."