Genetic test successfully detects some asymptomatic pancreatic cancers

A genetic test developed at UPMC proved highly sensitive at determining which pancreatic cysts are most likely to be associated with one of the most aggressive types of pancreatic cancer, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists reported in Gut, the journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology.The successful results are a critical step toward a precision medicine approach to detecting and treating pancreatic cancer, which has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers.

Surgery for pancreatic cancer: critical radiologic findings for clinical decision making

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with an estimated 53,670 new cases diagnosed and an estimated 43,090 deaths in 2017. This high mortality rate is in part due to the small percentage of patients diagnosed with local disease, as well as the biologically aggressive nature of the disease. While only 10–20% of patients will present with surgically resectable disease, this is the only possible curative therapy. 

How Bacteria Hinder Chemotherapy

To the reasons that chemotherapy sometimes does not work, we can now add one more: bacteria. In a study published in Science, researchers describe findings that certain bacteria can be found inside human pancreatic tumors. The findings further showed that some of these bacteria contain an enzyme that inactivates a common drug used to treat various cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Working with mouse models of cancer, they demonstrated how treatment with antibiotics on top of chemotherapy may be significantly superior to treatment with chemotherapy alone.

NCCN Flash Update: Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

NCCN has published updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) and the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium®) for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. These NCCN Guidelines® are currently available as Version

Let’s Win an initiative of the Lustgarten foundation, Inducted into the PR News Platinum Hall of Fame

Clinical and Genetic Implications of DNA Mismatch Repair Deficiency in Patients With Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma/h4>

DNA mismatch repair status is a well-established biomarker in colorectal cancer and is associated with both a favorable prognosis and excellent response to immunotherapy.1 However, the influence of deficient DNA mismatch repair (dMMR) and microsatellite instability in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unknown. The prognosis of PDAC is typically dismal and treatment options are limited, but previous research has suggested that microsatellite instability in resected PDAC specimens may be associated with improved survival

Study pinpoints gene’s new role in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a particularly deadly form of disease, and patients have few options for effective treatment. But a new Yale-led study has identified a gene that is critical to pancreatic cancer cell growth, revealing a fresh target for new therapies. Senior author Narendra Wajapayee, associate professor of pathology, and his research team started with the premise that cancer cells need specific nutrients to survive and divide quickly. They searched gene data sets to find genes involved in metabolism regulation that were highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue compared to normal pancreatic tissue. Out of 13 metabolic genes identified, they narrowed their search to four that when blocked.

New SU2C-Lustgarten Foundation team aims to apply CAR T-cell therapy to pancreatic cancer

Stand Up To Cancer is supporting a new translational research team to explore how a type of immunotherapy that has been very successful in blood cancers can be applied to pancreatic cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research, SU2C's Scientific Partner, announced today. The approach is called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, which uses specially modified immune cells to find and destroy cancerous cells.

Partnering Cells Turn Off Immune Attack on Pancreatic Tumors

Two cell types work together to protect pancreatic tumors from destruction by the immune system. But, blocking this partnership may restore the system's ability to attack these same tumor cells.These are the findings of a study in mice led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and published online July 18 in Cell Reports.The study results revolve around the immune system, which is designed to attack invaders like viruses

Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone has announced the creation of a multidisciplinary center of excellence to develop innovative approaches to diagnose, treat and prevent pancreatic cancer.The new Pancreatic Cancer Center brings together laboratory researchers, surgeons, oncologists, geneticists and others throughout NYU Langone to create a comprehensive care model to address this usually fatal disease, projected to be the second leading cause of cancer death by 2020.

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Intezyne Technologies Granted Orphan Drug Designation for IT-139 in Pancreatic Cancer

ntezyne Technologies, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel anti-cancer therapies, announced that that the Office of Orphan Products Development of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to IT-139, the most clinically advanced GRP78 inhibitor in development for solid tumors, for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Halozyme Phase 2 Data In Advanced Pancreas Cancer Featured In An Oral Presentation At ASCO'

Encouraging results from a Phase 2 randomized, multi-center clinical trial in pancreas cancer patients conducted by Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HALO) were presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference. Principal Investigator Sunil R. Hingorani, M.D., Ph.D., a pancreas cancer expert at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and professor at University of Washington School of Medicine expanded on findings from patient data as of December 2016 in the HALO-202 study of investigational new drug, PEGPH20 (pegvorhyaluronidase alpha) in combination with ABRAXANE® (nab-paclitaxel) and gemcitabine.

Painless cancer detection could become routine thanks to 'liquid biopsies'

Researchers are developing tests that could make cancer detection so painless that it becomes part of routine check-ups, experts said, as new developments in such “liquid biopsy” technology were presented at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago this weekend.

New test may improve pancreatic cancer diagnoses

Pancreatic cancer is hard to detect early, when the disease is most amenable to treatment. But a new study describes a blood test that may aid the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and someday make earlier screening feasible, the authors say. The test detects a combination of five tumor proteins that appear to be a reliable signature of the disease, the researchers report in the May 24 Science Translational Medicine.

FDA Approves First Immunotherapy Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

In an unprecedented and expedited review, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of pembrolizumab for pancreatic cancer patients with microsatellite instability. The Lustgarten Foundation played a critical role in bringing this new treatment to patients.

Scientists unveil new blood test to detect pancreatic cancer

Scientists unveiled a test Monday for detecting pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms, in less than a drop of blood. The diagnostic method is fast, cheap and ultra-sensitive, and can be adapted to test for other diseases whose fingerprints are detectible in blood, they wrote in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Pancreatic tumors rely on signals from surrounding cells

LA JOLLA--Just as an invasive weed might need nutrient-rich soil and water to grow, many cancers rely on the right surroundings in the body to thrive. A tumor's microenvironment--the nearby tissues, immune cells, blood vessels and extracellular matrix--has long been known to play a role in the tumor's growth. Now, Salk scientists have pinned down how signals from this microenvironment encourage pancreatic tumors to grow by altering their metabolism. Blocking the pathways involved, they reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of January 16, 2017, can slow the growth of a pancreatic cancer.

Caris Life Sciences and the Lustgarten Foundation Collaborate to Support Immunotherapy Clinical Trial for Pancreatic Cancer

Caris Life Sciences, a leading innovator in molecular science, and the Lustgarten Foundation, the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, are collaborating to support a clinical trial evaluating the impact of immunotherapy in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Caris is providing clinical trial enrollment services to identify potential trial candidates based on biomarker expression results and facilitate communication between treating physicians and study investigators. The Lustgarten Foundation is a sponsor of the study for pancreatic cancer patients in support of its mission to advance scientific and medical research related to the diagnosis, treatment and cure of pancreatic cancer. While pancreatic cancer is an extremely challenging disease to treat, recent advances in immunotherapies are rapidly changing the way cancer is being treated. The study, "Phase 2 Study of MK-3475 in Patients with Microsatellite Unstable (MSI) Tumors (NCT01876511)," is investigating whether MK-3475, an immunotherapy that blocks negative signals to T cells, is an effective anti-tumor activity agent for MSI-High tumors.

Can High-Dose Vitamin C Treat Lung, Pancreatic Cancer?

Cancer researchers in the US are currently studying the effects of treatment combining chemotherapy or radiotherapy with high doses of vitamin C administered intravenously. The first results, focusing on lung cancer and pancreatic cancer -- the two of the disease's most deadly forms -- appear to be encouraging. Vitamin C levels in the blood can be 100 to 500 times higher when administered intravenously, researchers from the University of Iowa, USA, explain in a study published in Redox Biology.

World renowned Surgeon and researcher to lead new Pancreatic Cancer Center At NYU Langone

NYU Langone Medical Center has announced that internationally recognized surgeon and scientist Diane M. Simeone, MD, will join its Perlmutter Cancer Center on March 1 to serve as associate director for translational research and to lead its newly established pancreatic cancer center.Currently director of the gastrointestinal oncology program at University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Dr. Simeone has had a long and distinguished career in pancreatic cancer research and treatment. Her laboratory was the first to identify pancreatic cancer stem cells, a discovery that might explain why current drug therapies are ineffective against the disease. She also leads a prolific research program on pancreatic cancer prevention, early detection and therapeutics, and holds major leadership positions with organizations advancing pancreatic cancer research and advocacy worldwide.

"Reduce risk for Pancreatic Cancer by regular use of Aspirin"

Besides what it is prescribed to address for the patients, the regular use of aspirin as researchers found out has a surprising effect. The risk of having pancreatic cancer is reduced in patients who take aspirin regularly.A study conducted in Shanghai, China found out that the risk of having pancreatic cancer is reduced to as much as 50 percent due to regular use of aspirin. However, the researchers stress that the use of aspirin should be prescribed by a doctor as inappropriate use of aspirin can lead to complications.

PEGPH20 may improve PFS in Pancreatic Cancer

Adding PEGPH20 to nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine significantly improved progression-free survival among treatment-naive patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer who had high levels of hyaluronan, according to a press release from Halozyme Therapeutics, the developer of PEGPH20.1 Results from a combined analysis of stages 1 and 2 and stage 2 alone of the multicenter, phase 2 HALO 202 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01839487) showed that among patients with high levels of hyaluronan, PEGPH20 improved median progression-free survival by 91% compared with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine alone. Median progression-free survival was 8.6 months with PEGPH20, nab-paclitaxel, and gemcitabine vs 4.5 months with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine.

"MabVax Therapeutics (MBVX) Files IND for Novel Radioimmunotherapy Agent"

MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc.(Nasdaq: MBVX),announces the filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MVT-1075 (177Lu-CHX-A″-DTPA-HuMab5B1),the Company's novel fully human antibody radioimmunotherapy (RIT). Subject to receiving FDA authorization to proceed, MabVax plans to initiate the phase I clinical trial in patients with recurrent pancreatic cancer and other CA19-9 positive malignancies early in 2017. This is the third IND filed by MabVax that builds on the tumor targeting characteristics of the HuMab-5B1 antibody discovered from immune responses of cancer patients vaccinated with the Company's proprietary cancer vaccines.

"France's Ipsen to buy Merrimack's pancreatic cancer drug, assets in $1 billion deal"

French drugmaker Ipsen SA (IPN.PA) said on Monday it would buy some assets of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (MACK.O), including pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde, for up to $1 billion, barely a month after the U.S. company stopped a breast cancer drug trial.

The deal would give Merrimack the resources to fund the development of three new compounds targeting pancreatic, lung, and other types of cancers. It would boost Ipsen's portfolio, which has traditionally focused on endocrinology.

"I Had No Idea I had an Increased Risk for Breast Cancer - Until My Dad Got Pancreatic Cancer"

When Shelby Hasten’s dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2014, it’s safe to say her life changed forever. In addition to grappling with the illness of her father, Shelby started down a path that led her to discover she was at an increased risk of developing cancer herself.

A friend of Shelby’s—an ob-gyn nurse practitioner— is the one who let her know that there was, sadly, a connection between the genetics of pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. (According to the American Cancer Society, certain inherited gene mutations can increase your risk for both types of the disease).

pancreatic tumour tissue development stopped by vitamin a process

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common type of malignancy of the pancreas, is extremely aggressive and very difficult to treat but now scientists suggest vitamin A may have a role to play in tackling the commonest form of pancreatic cancer.

In a new study, researchers from Imperial College London observed that it was possible to switch off pancreatic stellate cells (cells in the immediate tumour environment), potentially preventing the formation of the tissue around the tumour, through a process involving vitamin A

A u.s. "cancer moonshot" to accelerate cancer research

In January 2016 President Obama announced a “Cancer Moonshot” to “accelerate our understanding of cancer and its prevention, early detection, treatment, and cure” (1). A Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) of scientific experts was convened to make recommendations to the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB), the adviser to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), on research opportunities uniquely poised for acceleration. These recommendations were presented on 7 September 2016 (2). As cochairs of the BRP, we describe our approach, what it produced, and our expectations. The Lustgarten Foundation has funded two of the authors of this article, Dr. Tyler Jacks and Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee.

PEGPH20 as a potential breakthrough in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

The upcoming HALO 301 is the first-ever biomarker-driven trial in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and could potentially change the treatment paradigm for the disease.

In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Margaret A. Tempero, MD, director, Pancreas Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses the start of enrollment for the HALO 301 trial, the importance of a biomarker-driven trial in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and how tumor microenvironments play a huge role in the disease.

eus-fna can help doctors manage certain pancreatic lesions more effectively

An endoscopic procedure can improve the outlook for patients with a fairly common type of pancreatic lesion that is challenging to manage and that, if left untreated, can progress to cancer, according to a study in the September issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

pancreatic cancer trial to make tumours more sensitive to treatment

Cancer Research UK launches a first-of-its-kind pancreatic cancer clinical trial to make cancer cells more responsive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The trial, which launches* in the UK today, will treat pancreatic cancer patients whose cancer has grown too big to be removed by surgery but has not yet spread to other parts of the body.

Novel drug therapy kills pancreatic cancer cells by reducing levels of antioxidants

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Reducing levels of antioxidants in pancreatic cancer cells can help kill them, newly published research reveals, suggesting an entirely new treatment strategy for the notoriously lethal illness, in which less than 5 percent of patients survive 5 years. Although it has become almost a matter of conventional wisdom in popular culture that raising antioxidant levels in the body tends to keep cancer at bay, a team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) demonstrates in a series of sophisticated experiments that in the specific context of pancreatic cells on the road to cancer or already in a malignant state, the last thing one wants to do is to raise antioxidant levels.

Immune System Infighting Explains Pancreatic Cancer's Aggression

NEW YORK, Aug. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Internal conflict between cell types explains why the immune system struggles to recognize and attack pancreatic cancer. Curbing this infighting has the potential to make treatment more effective, according to a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and its Perlmutter Cancer Center. The Lustgarten Foundation has funded this research.

$10.4 million awarded for pancreatic cancer research

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a $10.4 million, five-year grant to Washington University researchers and physicians at Siteman Cancer Center to lead a national group of experts in collaborative pancreatic cancer research. 

Metformin may improve survival in pancreatic cancer patients, study suggests

Researchers from the Tisch Cancer Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City have found that patients with type 2 diabetes already taking metformin before a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer had better chance of survival than those on other medications.

Pancreatic cancer cells find unique fuel sources to keep from starving

Pancreatic cancer cells avert starvation in dense tumors by ordering nearby support cells to supply them with an alternative source of nutrition. This is the finding of a study in cancer cells and mice published August 10 in Nature. The study was led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard, and the University of Michigan Medical School.

In cancer, it's back to the future as old treatments make cutting-edge ones more effective

New cancer drugs that unleash the immune system on tumors are all the rage, getting credit for curing former President Jimmy Carter’s advanced melanoma and inspiring tech billionaire Sean Parker to pledge $250 million to cancer research. Behind the excitement, however, is the hard truth that these therapies work in only a minority of patients.

UCLA Pancreas Tissue Bank

David Dawson, M.D, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is Director of the UCLA Pancreas Tissue Bank. Since 2005, the UCLA Pancreas Tissue Bank has accrued a repository of high quality archival pancreas tissues and tumors that are made available to researchers for the purpose of facilitating basic and translational research in pancreatic diseases. These tissue resources allow investigators to confirm promising laboratory results in patient tissue samples and are invaluable tools for the discovery and validation of diagnostic, prognostic or predictive clinical biomarkers.

Pancreatic cancer resists personalized medicine - what researchers are doing to fight back

A team led by University of Arizona researchers is taking a new, patient-directed approach to treating pancreatic cancer. Rather than relying on conventional cell lines that have defined effective drug targets for other types of cancers, they are creating and sequencing cell lines from a cancer patient's own tissue. Their results, outlined August 4 in Cell Reports, reveal that pancreatic tumors are more varied than previously thought and that drug sensitivity is unique to each patient

Novel gene-hunting method implicates new culprit in pancreatic cancer

Using an innovative approach to identify a cancer's genetic vulnerabilities by more swiftly analyzing human tumors transplanted into mice, researchers have identified a new potential target for pancreatic cancer treatment, published online in Cell Reports.

Examining the Relationship Between BRCA and Pancreatic Cancer

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, most commonly linked with breast and ovarian cancers, are now gaining wider recognition for being associated with pancreatic cancer as well. People with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations face a 5 percent risk of getting pancreatic cancer in their lifetime.

Vitamin D Levels Tied to Survival in Pancreatic Cancer

Important results from a Lustgarten-funded project with Chen Yuan and Brian Wolpin, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues were recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Their study examined survival outcomes among 493 pancreatic cancer patients from 1984 to 2008, focusing specifically on their blood levels of 25(OH)D, or Vitamin D, before they were diagnosed with the disease. The researchers found that patients with sufficient prediagnostic levels of Vitamin D had a longer overall survival than those who had insufficient levels of Vitamin D.

VIDEO: ‘Great promise’ in genetic markers for identifying malignancy in pancreatic cysts

In this exclusive video from DDW 2016, outgoing AGA President Michael Camilleri, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., discusses two abstracts presented during the AGA Presidential Plenary that show promise for using genetic markers to improve the diagnosis of pancreatic cysts.

ASCO Releases Clinical Practice Guideline on Treatment of Potentially Curable Pancreatic Cancer

ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on the treatment of potentially curable pancreatic cancer, as reported by Alok A. Khorana, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The recommendations are based on expert panel systematic review of the literature from 2002 to 2015.

Microsoft Finds Cancer Clues in Search Queries

Microsoft scientists have demonstrated that by analyzing large samples of search engine queries they may in some cases be able to identify internet users who are suffering from pancreatic cancer, even before they have received a diagnosis of the disease.

ASCO Annual Meeting: Existing Treatments Used in New Ways - Mixing old and new chemotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer

Researchers found that adding capecitabine to standard treatment with gemcitabine helped patients live longer. Gemcitabine is the chemotherapy typically used to treat pancreatic cancer after surgery. Capecitabine is a chemotherapy most commonly used to treat breast and colorectal cancers. Adding capecitabine is a new approach to treating pancreatic cancer. Both gemcitabine and capecitabine are available as generic drugs.

Chemotherapy Combination After Surgery Improves Survival in Pancreatic Cancer

Adding capecitabine to gemcitabine nearly doubled five-year overall survival (OS) rates compared with gemcitabine alone for patients with pancreatic cancer whose tumors had been surgically removed, as demonstrated in a Phase 3 European trial. The median overall survival (OS) was 28 months with the combination chemotherapy regimen compared to 25.5 months with gemcitabine alone, an improvement in survival of 18 percent.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Announces Presentation of Final Data from Phase 1 Trial of Necuparanib in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer at ASCO

Results from a Phase 1 trial evaluating necuparanib, a novel drug, in combination with the standard of care, nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) and gemcitabine, in patients with advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01621243), were presented last week at the 2016 ASCO annual meeting.

ASCO 2016: Rucaparib Shows Clinical Benefit in BRCA-Mutated Pancreatic Cancer

The targeted PARP inhibitor rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in patients with ovarian cancer who have a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated patients with pancreatic cancer who have the mutation (about 9%), according to results from a Phase II clinical study presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.

96 % of early stage pancreatic cancer patients detected in a clinical validation study with a North American sample cohort. Second study validates Immunovia´s IMMray™ PanCan-d test for early detection of pancreatic cancer

Using the proprietary IMMray™ technology platform and a biomarker signature, Immunovia’s blood test has been able to discriminate between pancreatic cancer patients with stage I, II, III, and IV has been derived from clinical studies covering about 2500 patient samples in two continents.

Let's Win Launches!

The Lustgarten Foundation is proud to support the initiative Let's Win , the first-ever online community sharing new, innovative science-driven treatments for Pancreatic Cancer which launched this May!

THE IMPROVISATIONAL ONCOLOGIST: In an era of rapidly proliferating, precisely targeted treatments, every cancer case has to be played by ear.

The Lustgarten Foundation’s Distinguished Scholar, Bert Vogelstein, M.D., a cancer geneticist at Johns Hopkins University, explains in the NY Times article his commitment to finding a treatment that can be effective and less expensive for several cancers, including pancreatic cancer. He discusses that despite our genetic diversity, targeting the 12 core pancreatic cancer pathways rather than the individual gene mutations involved in pancreatic cancer will ultimately impact how cancer is observed and treated.