Pancreatic cancer tagged posts

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have discovered a new nutrient source that pancreatic cancer cells use to grow. The molecule, uridine, offers insight into both biochemical processes and possible therapeutic pathways.

The findings, published in Nature, show that cancer cells can adapt when they don’t have access to glucose. Researchers have previously identified other nutrients that serve as fuel sources for pancreatic cancer; this study adds uridine to the catalog.

Pancreatic tumors have few functioning blood vessels and can’t easily access nutrients that come from the bloodstream, like glucose. Costas Lyssiotis, Ph.D...

Potential new therapeutic target for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Now, Salk scientists report in the journal Gastroenterology on April 21, 2022, that a protein known as estrogen-related receptor gamma (ERR ɣ) is critical for preventing pancreatic auto-digestion in mice. Moreover, they discovered that people with pancreatitis have lower levels of ERR ɣ in cells affected by this inflammation.

These findings suggest that new therapies aimed at regulating ERR ɣ activity could help prevent or treat pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

“Our finding provides new insight into both the ...

Washington University to lead national clinical trial investigating therapy. A new study – in mice – suggests that blocking a major inflammatory pathway that is activated in pancreatic cancer makes the tumors sensitive to chemotherapy and a type of immunotherapy that prompts the immune system’s T cells to attack the cancer cells. The therapy more than doubled survival in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most...

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have identified a protein that could be used to aid in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Findings from the new study suggest that a protein called pentraxin 3 (PTX3) may be a specific diagnostic biomarker — or biological measure — for pancreatic cancer, with the ability to differentiate pancreatic cancer from other non-cancerous conditions of the pancreas.

The research was published today in npj Precision Oncology, and primarily funded by the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, Barts Charity and Cancer Research UK.

PTX3 levels elevated in patients with pancreatic cancer

In the study, researchers measured PTX3 levels in serum blood samples from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) — the most common type of pan...