Sunday, April 12, 2015

Genetic Discovery of Pancreatic Cancer

According to Dr. Michael Choti, pancreatic cancer, the fourth most deadly cancer for both men and women, could surpass breast and prostate cancer in the next 15 years, to become the third-leading cause of cancer related deaths.  However, study author Dr. Agnieszka Witkiewicz, recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, says researchers identified much genetic diversity, including mutated genes that were previously unknown to pancreatic cancer.  This means most pancreatic cancers have gene mutations that could be targeted by existing drugs. These findings could lead to improved treatment for pancreatic cancer.



After analyzing the DNA of 109 pancreatic tumors the researchers discovered that each patient’s tumors were unique.  They identified several genes that may be able to help predict the outcomes in certain cases or serves as good candidates for therapeutic efforts.  Dr. Erik Knudsen says he is optimistic of the utility of a genetically targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer after the start of this study.  With more research, and this new information, new therapies can be worked towards to treat this difficult cancer.  Dr. Choti hopes to increase the understanding of the biology of pancreatic cancer, to eventually lower the death rate associated with this disease.

Original Article: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/04/09/study-yields-genetic-insights-into-pancreatic-cancer

Additional Article: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-uncovers-genetic-diversity-pancreatic-cancer.html

2 comments:

  1. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer, as well as many of the women on my father's side of the family, so I can definitely see a usefulness of this personally. There's still so many things to learn about cancer specifics, but at least there's some sort of trajectory on what seems like the right path.

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  2. Wow that is very interesting. Hopefully more funding goes towards research in this topic.

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