The pancreas produces important hormones – especially insulin, which regulates blood sugar, and ghrelin, which stimulates appetite. If the function of the pancreas is disturbed, diabetes can be the result, but gastrointestinal diseases such as pancreatitis are also highly relevant in medicine – as is pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most aggressive and deadly tumour types.
Pancreatic cancer stem cells exploit an antibacterial protein to evade the immune system. Removing this protein could pave the way to more effective immunotherapy, new research suggests.
In more than one in six patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the tumour is initially diagnosed at a non-metastatic primarily unresectable, locally advanced stage (LAPC). For these patients, a new internal radiation procedure, OncoSil™ brachytherapy, may become a treatment option – in Germany, around 858 patients could benefit from this innovation annually.
US oncologists are exploring a new combined chemotherapy and surgical approach to safely remove advanced pancreatic tumors that were previously considered inoperable.
Pancreatic cancer is not just one disease, but that’s the way it is currently treated. New work from Columbia University could help pave the way for a change.
For pancreatic cancer, the effect of immunotherapy is limited and differs between men and women. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now found a possible explanation for this sex difference.
A new study from Spain has demonstrated the efficiency of an ultrasound radiation-based therapy on the inhibition of cancer cell motion in pancreas cancer models.
Treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy before surgery significantly improved 1-year survival rates compared to immediate surgery, a randomised clinical trial has found.
Endosonography poses unique challenges for medical professionals, because two demanding disciplines have to be mastered at the same time. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) could help speed up the notoriously slow learning curve of the procedure, says Prof Dr Christoph F. Dietrich. At the Visceral Medicine Congress in Hamburg, the expert explained how AI can help endosonography achieve…
Researchers from Barcelona report that vaccination with senescent cells shows promise in experimental models of melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer tumours are being missed on CT and MRI scans, narrowing the window for life-saving curative surgery, research presented at UEG Week 2022 has revealed.
Researchers in Munich have developed a novel model system that can be used to precisely track the growth steps and three-dimensional arrangement of pancreatic cancer cells.
A device using next-gen technology to automatically deliver insulin was found to be more effective at maintaining blood glucose levels than standard-of-care management for type 1 diabetes.
A team from Geneva has discovered a molecule that can identify the development of diabetes before the first symptoms appear.
Faulty versions of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are well known to increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Now, they have been linked to several other cancers, including those that affect men.
Scientists have found that fat can help the pancreas adapt to excess sugar, thereby slowing the onset of diabetes.
A new approach to ‘prime’ the tumour environment may improve how effective chemotherapy is for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the most aggressive forms of pancreatic cancer. In preclinical models, a team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research could enhance the tumours’ response to chemotherapy by reducing the stiffness and density of the connective tissue known as the stroma,…
Researchers at Umeå University now demonstrate a method by which specific cell types in human organs can be studied with micrometer precision. The method can be used to reveal previously unrecognised alterations in the pancreas, but it can also be used to study other human organs and diseases.
Pancreatic cancer is a disease of the elderly: the average age of patients is 72. In Austria, about 1,600 people are diagnosed each year. Since pancreatic cancer has no specific symptoms, it is not usually diagnosed until the tumor is locally advanced or has already metastasized. Once the tumor has metastasized, it is usually no longer treatable by surgery or radiotherapy. In addition, the drug…
Why do alterations of certain genes cause cancer only in specific organs of the human body? Scientists at the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and the University Medical Center Göttingen have now demonstrated that cells originating from different organs are differentially susceptible to activating mutations in cancer drivers: The same mutation in…
