New discovery in pancreatic cancer treatment
Experts at the Shanghai Cancer Center have detected a biomarker which is expected to play an important role in immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer, filling a blank of relevant research in the field and providing evidence for precise immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer patients.
The research was published by world-leading medical journal GUT.
Dr Yu Xianjun (left) from the Shanghai Cancer Center performs pancreatic cancer surgery.
Immunotherapy has been proved to have significant effects in the treatment of multiple caners, however, it has failed to show effects on pancreatic cancer, which is nicknamed the king of cancer due to its high mortality rate and the difficulty of early detection.
Local doctors for the first time found CRIP1 can activate the immunity against pancreatic cancer. The team of Dr Yu Xianjun and Dr Shi Si found CRIP1 has a high expression in the tissue of pancreatic cancers compared with normal pancreatic tissues and immune cells are closely related with the invasion of cancerous tissues.
In animal experiments, specific immunotherapy targeting the mechanism has shown positive effects in prohibiting the development of pancreatic cancer.
"The research explains why previous plans of immunotherapy did not have positive effects," said Dr Yu, president of the Shanghai Cancer Center. "After finding CRIP1's key role, renovated medications are expected to bring benefits to pancreatic cancer patients through immunotherapy."
