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The Future of Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

Carol Trehearn

Although you may be unaware of what your pancreas does, it is a vital organ in your body. The pancreas is located just above the stomach. It produces hormones such as insulin and glucagon and helps us digest food properly. While it is possible to live without this organ, people without one must take medication daily to replace what it does in their bodies.

Unfortunately, thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer of this vital organ each year. Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that is found anywhere in the pancreas. It is a common and often untreatable form of cancer. Because of this, scientists are constantly on the lookout for new ways to treat this deadly disease. If you want to find out what the future of pancreatic cancer treatment looks like, keep reading below:

Pancreatic Cancer Survival Rates

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the US. Ten years ago, pancreatic cancer’s survival rate was 5%; however, today, this has increased to 10%. While this might not seem like a big deal, it shows that we are on the right path to defeating pancreatic cancer once and for all. However, this doesn’t mean that we can sit back and relax. Instead, we need to do more research into pancreatic cancer and develop new therapies and treatments.

How is Pancreatic Cancer Treated?

There are several types of pancreatic cancer treatments, including:

  • Radiotherapy – this type of treatment uses ionizing radiation to kill or control malignant cells.
  • Chemotherapy – chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that involves taking anti-cancer drugs. This treatment aims to prolong life or reduce symptoms.
  • Surgery – this involves removing as much of the cancer as possible.

Although several pancreatic cancer treatments exist, very few can be offered to people with advanced diseases.

The Future of Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

While we’ve still not found a cure for pancreatic cancer, there is hope for the future. Scientists are continually looking for new ways to overcome this disease. One example of this is the pancreatic xenograft model. A xenograft model is a model of pancreatic cancer. It is used to mirror human disease and pathology as closely as possible. This helps scientists better understand how cancer works and how we can treat it.

With xenograft tumors, there are several models to choose from, including:

  • The AsPC-1 – this is used to study pancreas infections.
  • The MIA PaCa 2 pancreatic xenograft tumor model – this is used to study the mechanism of action of cancer therapeutics.
  • Capan-1 – this model studies the effects of pancreatic insufficiencies.

While this research is still ongoing, it gives pancreatic cancer patients and their families hope that we will find a cure in the future.

However, this isn’t the only way to increase survival rates from pancreatic cancer. Many scientists argue that we need to work harder at detecting pancreatic cancer early. To achieve this, scientists argue that we must screen people more regularly.

In the past, very few treatments were available for people with pancreatic cancer, but this is starting to change. New technology, such as gene editing technology and the introduction of xenograft models, gives pancreatic cancer patients hope for the future.