Potential Game Changer for Treating Pancreatic Cancer
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine with an international team have used liver biopsies to identify cellular and molecular markers that can potentially be used to predict whether and when pancreatic cancer will spread to an individual’s liver or elsewhere, such as the lung.
The study, published on June 28 in Nature Medicine, proposes that information from a liver biopsy when pancreatic cancer is diagnosed may help guide doctors in personalizing treatment, such as liver-directed immunotherapies, before cancer cells have the chance to metastasize.
Only 10% of patients with pancreatic cancer will survive more than two years after initial diagnosis. “If we can predict the timing and location of metastases, that could be a real game changer in treating pancreatic cancer, particularly for patients at high metastatic risk,” says study co-senior author Dr. David Lyden, the Stavros S. Niarchos Professor in Pediatric Cardiology and professor of pediatrics and of cell and developmental biology.