Investigating molecular vulnerabilities in pancreatic cancer tissues
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating molecular vulnerabilities in pancreatic cancer tissues
IRAS ID
319239
Contact name
Siang Boon Koh
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Pancreatic cancer is the tenth most common cancer in the United Kingdom, and the survival rate has not shown much improvement over the last 50 years. At diagnosis, 10 to 15% of patients present with early-stage disease that permits curative surgery. However, within 2 years of surgery, at least 80% of these individuals develop local or distant relapse. The majority of pancreatic cancer patients present with either locally advanced unresectable disease (30-35%) or advanced-stage disease with metastases in the liver or other visceral organs (50%). Often, patients with untreated metastatic disease have a life expectancy of 2 to 3 months.
Given that most pancreatic cancer patients eventually reach advanced metastatic stage, development of effective systemic chemotherapies is an urgent medical need, in addition to improvement on the early detection of the disease. Despite recent advances in clinical trials on FOLFIRINOX (folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) and nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine combinations, the median overall survival does not extend beyond 12 months, with an increased incidence of side effects. As a result, strategies to combine current standard treatment with new and emerging drugs are under active development.
This research will study the biology of human pancreatic tissues to identify factors that determine tumour growth and drug sensitivities. Findings from this research will advance our mechanistic understanding of this aggressive cancer, paving the way towards more mechanism-directed treatment strategies and ultimately addressing the clinical priority of personalised medicine for this group of poor-prognosis cancer patients.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
23/NI/0041
Date of REC Opinion
6 Apr 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion