“Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease with a dismal survival rate of less than one in 10 patients. Unfortunately, it has largely “missed out” on the treatment progress we have made over the past few decades and the revolution that immunotherapy has brought for cancers.” – Professor Matthias Ernst
In November we recognise World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month with World Pancreatic Cancer Day being marked on Thursday, 21 November, offering an opportunity for us to come together and shine a light on the disease, remember loved ones, and highlight pancreatic cancer research.
It’s an important initiative. While there has been extraordinary success in the treatment and survival rates of many cancers, current treatment options for pancreatic cancer remain limited and largely ineffective. Chemotherapy only works in about 30 per cent of patients, surgery is successful in less than 10 per cent of patients, and most pancreatic cancers do not respond to immunotherapy.
With such a low survival rate, new approaches to treating pancreatic cancer are desperately needed. Professor Matthias Ernst is hoping that recent discoveries of the effects of a protein called HCK (hematopoietic cell kinase) will help him, and his team change this.
Prof. Ernst’s donor funded research is developing a deeper understanding of why pancreatic cancer cells spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and become resistant to treatment.
“The biggest clinical challenge of treating pancreatic cancer patients is the poor response of the tumours to therapy and the advanced stage at which patients are diagnosed,” said Prof. Ernst.
“Unfortunately, a majority of pancreatic cancers either do not respond to immunotherapy or rapidly develop resistance. It’s important that we understand factors that are limiting this response to immunotherapy so that this ‘game-changing’ therapy can be used to provide effective cures for pancreatic cancer.”
The discovery that the HCK protein plays a critical role in enabling pancreatic cancer to spread and become resistant to therapies is providing an opportunity to explore new approaches. Prof. Ernst and his team are grateful that thanks to your compassionate support, they are now able to test ways in which removing or destroying the HCK protein may have an impact on improving the response to immunotherapy.
In just five years, they’re hoping to take these new findings to conduct the first clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients. If successful, Prof. Ernst’s team will be providing critical new insights to address an urgent need, and together you will be giving new hope to pancreatic cancer patients worldwide.
“I am motivated every day to make my work as a researcher as relevant as possible to the urgent needs of patients in the clinic. Particularly for those cancers for which at this stage there is no effective treatment or cure available,” added Prof. Ernst.
Your support is accelerating treatment breakthroughs for pancreatic cancer patients.
Know the symptoms and risk
Early signs of pancreatic cancer can be difficult to detect, which too often leads to a late-stage diagnosis. While the following symptoms can occur in many other conditions, being aware of some of the more common signs could help with an earlier diagnosis.
Common symptoms:
- Jaundice (such as yellow eyes and skin)
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Unexplained weight-loss
- Pain in the upper stomach, side, or back
- Changes in bowel motions
- Newly diagnosed type-2 diabetes
- Fatigue
The causes of pancreatic cancer are still a mystery, but research has shown that people with certain risk factors are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, including:
- Smoking tobacco
- Obesity
- Ageing
- Long-term diabetes
- Long-term pancreatitis
- Stomach infections caused by the Helicobacter pylori bacteria
- Family history and inherited conditions
- Workplace exposure to certain pesticides, dyes or chemicals.
Talk to your doctor, local family cancer clinic or call 13 11 20 cancer support for more information.
Learn more about pancreatic cancer
<- Back to Breakthrough, December 2024