Historic breakthrough against pancreatic cancer

Barbacid insisted, in a press appearance to publish the results, in a "first step", in which we must continue to investigate, in which the application of this type of therapies will not be available for the first time. man in a period of at least five years and that, therefore, does not work for patients who currently suffer from this type of cancer.

Every day in the world, 1200 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, whose 5-year survival rate is only 5%.

The ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is one of the most resistant cancers to treatment. Currently, its cure is limited to cases in which the tumor is very localized and can be removed surgically, which represents less than 10% of patients. In the United States, it is already the third leading cause of death behind lung and colon cancers and its mortality already exceeds that of bad cancer in Spain.

Dr. Alfredo Carrato, Head of the Oncology Department at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid and Director of the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research, pointed out that "we are gaining cancer every day" "but that" it is not the case of pancreatic cancer ". , which has been described as a "first clbad health emergency" and regretted that the diagnosis is late and the average survival rate is very low.

Cancer is gaining ground every day, but this is not the case with the pancreas, a first-rate health emergency. Alfredo Carrato Spanish Chief of Cancer

To present the results of the investigation appeared before the media, in addition to Barbacid, said doctor, Alfredo Carrato, and Dr. Marta Puyol, director of research of the Spanish Association Against Cancer.

In the work, it has also been proven that the inhibition of both molecular targets prevents the proliferation of nine out of ten human pancreatic tumors, although this advance has been proven with experimental models. The authors of the research explained that the success of these experimental therapies is not a guarantee of success for the patients, but that this activity is considered as an essential preliminary step to the development of the clinical trials.

The research used a new generation of mice genetically engineered to induce the same mutations that are responsible for most of these types of tumors in humans. The result is that a percentage of tumors has not only stopped growing but in a few weeks it has completely disappeared, a therapeutic effect never observed until now in any experimental model, and it has also been observed that It was reached with toxicity levels. very weak (dermatitis very easily controllable).

Danger: In the United States, for example, pancreatic cancer is already the third leading cause of death.

Now it's up to humans

Dr. Carrato regrets that the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is very late and emphasizes the importance of screening asymptomatic patients (when they have a family history) and a personalized treatment. "Our commitment is to gain ground against the disease, but to make our patients understand what Mariano Barbacid's team has already achieved in mice," he said.