A new door has opened to treatments for one of the deadliest cancers: pancreatic cancer. Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have, for the first time, completely eliminated pancreatic tumors in experimental mouse models using a triple therapeutic combination. The study focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common type of tumor. The researchers devised a strategy that targets three key aspects of this cancer: the mutation that initiates the tumor (called KRAS) and the two proteins involved that promote the proliferation, survival, and growth of this cancer (called EGFR and STAT3). After six years of work, the curative efficacy of this triple therapy has been demonstrated. The results have been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A new medical breakthrough opens the door to the treatment of pancreatic cancer, one of the most aggressive cancers in existence. A team from Bellvitge Hospital has used, for the first time in Spain, a surgical technique that allows the removal of this type of tumor, which until now was considered inoperable.

Pancreatic cancer survival rates five years after detection are among the lowest, at just 10%. Its aggressiveness is due, in part, to late diagnosis, but also to the dome of proteins and cells that protects the tumor, the so-called stroma. Now, a study led by Catalan research centers has identified a new key role played by the Galectin-1 protein in the nucleus of cells surrounding the tumor, hiding it from the action of the immune system and increasing its resistance to drugs, since the medications are unable to cross the barrier.