Could this medicine help you?
A clinical trial hosted by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shows promising results for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial combines a two primary intervention strategies to see how patients respond to treatments. Standard surgery and a customized vaccine are offering hope to those suffering from pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers in the world. The fascinating research is completely changing how medical professionals may approach cancer research and its link with immune system health. Want to learn more? Click on.
Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all cancers. Its five-year survival rate is only 13%. In the United Kingdom, pancreatic cancer is responsible for over 5% of all cancer deaths.
In the United States, pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the country, with numbers set to increase.
The issue with pancreatic conditions is that, often, symptoms only become apparent once the cancer has developed to a more grave stage or has even spread to other parts of the body.
With the lowest survival rate of all cancers, it’s also the 12th most common cancer in the world. Life expectancy following diagnosis is one year for nearly 75% of patients.
Approximately 2% of the world population will, at one point in their lives, be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer develops when the cells in the pancreas begin to “grow uncontrollably,” according to the organization City of Hope.
The biggest risks to developing pancreatic cancer are smoking, obesity, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes, and long-term chemical exposure. The risk of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age. Nearly all documented cases are reported in those over 45.
There is also a link to race and gender. Those of African heritage and men have a greater risk of developing the cancer in their lives.
It’s clear that pancreatic cancer is a major health issue that is effecting people worldwide in a grave manner and will likely impact us or someone we know within our lifetime.
A recent clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is offering hope to those suffering from the disease.
Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, ran a clinical trial that demonstrates a possible treatment option that could save millions of people.
The clinical trial is a combination of surgical intervention with chemotherapy treatments. This is often a standard combination for many cancer patients.
The innovative treatment method includes an mRNA vaccine that is customized to each individual patient’s condition.
Taking into account a patient’s tumor, the vaccine is designed in such a way that pushes the patient’s immune system to “attack the cancer.”
The design of the clinical trial emerged from a group of long-term pancreatic cancer survivors, which consisted of a small group, as only 10% of all pancreatic cancer patients survive for more than five years.
Research conducted on survivors found a common thread. Several studies demonstrated that survivors immune systems may hold the key to their survival.
It seems that these patients’ immune systems were essentially able to recognize the ‘threat’ of cancer in the body and react, in what doctors deem a “spontaneous immune response.”
Doctors say that this is atypical, as the immune system isn’t designed to “recognize our own body,” which makes it challenging for the immune system to recognize cancer.
This foundational knowledge is what built the idea of the clinical trial. Scientists hope that they can force other patients’ immune systems to engage in this kind of self-recognition.
While this process occurs naturally for long-term survivors, for those who are not experiencing this naturally, the scientists behind the clinical trial are using the mRNA vaccine to do so.
The first phase of the clinical trial includes those with early-stage pancreatic cancer. This means that all of these participants only have localized cancer (limited to the pancreas) and the tumor must be removable through surgical intervention.
This stage of pancreatic cancer and these conditions (operational and limited to the organ) occur in only up to a quarter of all pancreatic cancer patients.
Patients’ tumors were removed and then sent to BioNTech, one of Sloan-Kettering’s research partners for the study.
BioNTech then took the tumor to make the mRNA vaccine. The vaccine was provided to the patient alongside a period of immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
Essentially, the vaccine targets any mutations produced by the cancer. When cancer cells divide, they create a series of “genetic errors.”
These mutations are flashing warning lights to the body’s immune system. This alerts the immune system to the cancer cells and recognizes them.
This first phase of the clinical trial had a modest 16 patients. Of those 16 patients, half had reportedly “strong immune responses.”
Interestingly, of those eight people, none had reoccurring disease within the first 18 months post-treatment. This is in comparison to the average patient who undergoes only chemotherapy and surgery and often sees their cancer reappear within a year’s time.
Over three years after the treatment, only two of the eight patients who had a strong immune response saw their cancer return. Meanwhile, seven of the remaining patients who did not experience a strong immune response had their cancer return within that period.
Sources: (CBS News) (National Cancer Institute) (Bloomberg) (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network) (City of Hope)
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HEALTH Pancreatic cancer
A clinical trial hosted by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shows promising results for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial combines two primary intervention strategies to see how patients respond to treatments. Standard surgery and a customized vaccine are offering hope to those suffering from pancreatic cancer—One of the deadliest cancers in the world.
The fascinating research is completely changing how medical professionals may approach cancer research and its link with immune system health. Want to learn more? Click on.