Technique that stops pancreatic cancer found

TOKYO: Researchers at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S) at the University of Porto announced on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) the discovery of a technique that prevents the progression of pancreatic cancer.

According to the statement sent to the press, the method consists of preventing communication between cancer stem cells and other tumor cells that give “orders for the tumor to grow and resist chemotherapy.”

Published in the media journal of gastroenterology and hepatology Gut, the study by Portuguese scientists led by Sonia Melo opens up new therapeutic possibilities for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

“Although they are much less numerous, stem cells are the ones that communicate the most with other cells. In fact, they are the ones who command and transmit the guidelines for the tumor to survive,” the researchers explain.

According to the Portuguese study, inside the extracellular vesicles, there is a protein, called “Agrin,” which, when sent to other cells, “drives the tumor to grow and overcome adversities, especially chemotherapy.”

“We realized that when we cut off this communication between cancer stem cells and other cancer cells, we prevent the tumor from growing,” says researcher Sonia Melo.

The scientists came to this conclusion by studying samples of pancreatic tumors from patients that were later introduced into mice.

“We used antibodies to block the Agrin protein and we also saw a slowdown in tumor growth,” adds the researcher.

According to her, the next step is the development of “drugs to prevent communication between cancer cells” and “antibodies to block the Agrin protein.”

Because it is difficult to detect and has an aggressive behavior, pancreatic cancer has a high mortality rate, due to late diagnosis.

About 1,800 cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed annually in Portugal, being the second leading cause of death from this type of disease, according to official estimates.