Blocking of ROR? can inhibit tumor growth in pancreatic cancer patients

In a recent study done at the University of California San Diego, scientist used CRISPR technology to find molecular vulnerabilities of pancreatic stem cells. During their research they found a hormone, ROR?, was especially active during pancreatic cancer growth. ROR? has been studied in inflammation and T-cell differentiation. When ROR? was inhibited in animal subjects, the pancreatic tumor growth was slowed down and the subject survival rate increased. The researchers believe that using genome scale approaches to map stem cell dependencies in pancreatic cells will be very important in discovering new therapies for pancreatic cancer and for finding new vulnerabilities in pancreatic cancer. 

I believe this a very large step forward in an attempt to control such a deadly and infectious form of cancer. The survival rate for pancreatic cancer is very low, and with the use of new technology and medicines it is possible to hinder the growth of the cancer cells. This could change the deadliness of pancreatic cancer.