Posts by tag
pancreatic cancer
Rewriting RAS: A New Targeted Option on the Horizon for Pancreatic Cancer
Metastatic pancreatic cancer remains one of the most treatment-refractory solid tumours in oncology. Despite multiple incremental refinements over the past decade, first-line therapy continues to rely on cytotoxic chemotherapy, most commonly FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel, with limited change in…
CancerWorld #115 (May 2026)
In oncology, progress is measured in survival rates, response curves, and treatment gains. But those numbers rest on a quieter assumption: that health systems can deliver what science makes possible. When they cannot, progress becomes uneven—not in discovery, but in…
CancerWorld #113 (March 2026)
Scientific discovery drives oncology forward, but progress only truly begins when knowledge is turned into action. Every issue of CancerWorld explores the people, ideas, and systems shaping the future of oncology. Scientific breakthroughs remain essential, but their true value emerges…
Rethinking Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer: A Universal Approach
Chimeric antigen receptor natural killer T (CAR-NKT) cell therapy, a novel form of immunotherapy, is emerging as a promising ‘off-the-shelf’ treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer. In a study published in PNAS, November 21, 2025, U.S. investigators report that CAR-NKT cells…
MRI technique can identify pre-malignant pancreatic lesions
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a form of MRI, is capable of detecting pre-malignant lesions in both mouse and human pancreatic specimens. The ‘proof of concept’ study, published in Investigative Radiology, 13 December 2024, opens the way to use DTI for…
Young-onset digestive cancers: this is how we improve the quality of care
“I had very severe symptoms. I had jaundice, I had itching – symptoms that could definitely indicate something related to the liver, or quite severe disease – but because of my age I was repeatedly just shoved away.” (Gabriel, eventually…
Liver biopsies can predict when and where pancreatic cancer will metastasise and may guide treatment of early-stage disease
Liver biopsies undertaken at the time of surgery for pancreatic cancer can be used to identify cellular and molecular markers that predict whether early pancreatic cancer will later metastasise to the liver. The study, published in Nature Medicine, June 28,…
Potential new target to prevent pancreatic cancer from spreading to liver
A mechanism that facilitates pancreatic cancer cells spreading to the liver has been elucidated. The study, published in Cell Reports, 2 November, identifies a ‘therapeutic vulnerability’ where the protein Netrin-1, which is upregulated when pancreatic cancer cells metastasise to the…
Cancer could overtake cardiovascular disease as leading cause of death in type 2 diabetes
Mortality from cancer has increased among older people with type 2 diabetes. The UK cohort study, published in Diabetologica, 24 January, found people with type 2 diabetes were at particular risk of mortality from colorectal, pancreatic, liver and endometrial cancers.…
Abnormal collagen provides ‘invisibility cloak’ in pancreatic cancer offering new therapeutic targets
Cancer cells produce an atypical collagen in pancreatic cancer creating an extracellular matrix that influences the tumour microbiome to protect against immune responses. The study, published in Cancer Cell, July 21, suggests that such abnormal collagen could provide a new…