You’ve helped make 3 game-changing discoveries

In 2024, Cancer Council Victoria began funding Professor Matthias Ernst’s research into metastatic pancreatic cancer as part of our Grants-in-Aid program, generously funded by supporters like you.

It’s already bringing exciting results!

The biggest breakthrough so far has been in identifying a protein called ‘HCK’ that plays a key role in helping pancreatic cancer spread and hide from the immune system. Matthias and his team have found that when HCK is removed, immunotherapy treatments that usually don’t work are suddenly much more effective and are able to slow the cancer down.

Now, because of the overwhelming generosity of so many of you who donated to Matthias’ research, he and his team have been able to make three game-changing advances:

1. Tracking cancer’s “fittest” cells – The research team have set up powerful new technology to “barcode” pancreatic cancer cells. This will help them see which cells are most dangerous, how they spread, and how they resist treatment.
2. Studying the tumour environment – They’ve found that blocking HCK changes the structure around tumours, making it easier for immune cells to attack cancer.
3. Preparing for new treatments – Their next step is to test whether blocking HCK, on its own or in combination with existing drugs, can make standard chemotherapy and immunotherapy more effective.