Garvan Institute of Medical Research shared a post on LinkedIn:
“This World Pancreatic Cancer Day, we’re highlighting two new research projects at Garvan, generously funded by Pankind, Pancreatic Cancer Australia.
Both projects address critical challenges in pancreatic cancer: breaking through the tumour’s protective barriers and detecting the disease before symptoms appear.
Professor Marina Pajic is developing precision treatments that target integrins – proteins that help maintain the dense scar-like tissue protecting pancreatic tumours from cancer therapies.
By blocking two specific integrins with small molecule inhibitors, her team can weaken this protective barrier, allowing chemotherapy to reach cancer cells more effectively.
By analysing individual cells in patients’ tumours, they’re identifying biomarkers to predict who this treatment approach will work for.
Dr Orion Tong is developing a blood test sensitive enough to detect pancreatic cancer before symptoms appear.
By analysing multiple features in DNA that tumours release into the bloodstream, including chemical modifications called methylation, this test could identify the disease when surgery is still possible.
More posts about Pancreatic cancer.
