Pancreatic cancer is one of the greatest challenges in oncologic therapy. Mortality is extremely high despite intensive research. New treatment options are urgently needed. A team of researchers has now discovered that a specific molecular change in the cancer cells has a significant influence on the response to therapy.
The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is extremely poor, with a five-year survival rate of less than eight percent. Most patients with advanced pancreatic cancer relapse within one year of diagnosis. According to current surveys, the disease will be the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western countries in just a few years. The problem is that the tumor grows early into the surrounding tissue, spreads rapidly to other organs and responds poorly to conventional therapies. Something has to happen. Researchers have now found that a specific molecular change in cancer cells has a significant impact on their response to a novel therapy. While tumors with a molecular alteration “A” respond particularly well to a specific chemotherapy, patients whose pancreatic cancer does not have this characteristic do not benefit from the same therapy. In modern cancer medicine, it is therefore also important to take the “molecular fingerprint” of the tumor into account for individual therapy in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The research results show that EZH2 promotes tumor cell growth and spread by suppressing the expression of the GATA6 gene. GATA6 counteracts the development and aggressive growth of tumors in the pancreas. However, in some subgroups of pancreatic tumors, a mutation of the GATA6 gene is found by which the gene evades regulation by EZH2. Thus, in this pancreatic cancer subgroup, inhibition of EZH2 is not effective. In addition, the team found that inhibitors of certain epigenetic regulators no longer work in p53-mutated cells or even promote tumor growth. It is therefore important to know if there is an alteration in the p53 gene before using epigenetic inhibitors. In subsequent research projects, the scientists hope to further unravel the complex interplay of the tumor cell’s molecular fingerprint and epigenetic regulators to contribute to the development of new targeted therapeutic strategies in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Source: “Pancreatic cancer: the molecular fingerprint of the tumor determines the effectiveness of tumor therapy”, 14.10.2020, Wilhelm Sander Foundation.
InFo ONCOLOGY & HEMATOLOGY 2020; 8(5): 33.
