Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Complete eradication of pancreatic tumors in mice has been achieved

The combination of three drugs has managed to cure pancreatic cancer in mice. With this strategy they have managed to overcome the biggest obstacle of current treatments: the development of resistance to treatment by the tumor. They have achieved the best results of all time, but researchers have made it clear that therapy is not yet ready for clinical trials.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the tumors with the worst prognosis. The percentage of those who remain alive after five years is less than 10% (in Spain). In recent years, drugs targeted by the KRAS gene have been an important step forward. In fact, this gene is mutated in 90% of people with pancreatic cancer. However, the effect of these drugs is limited because the tumor quickly develops resistance: it activates other pathways and escapes treatment.

“Instead of blocking the KRAS gene at one point, blocking it at three points has prevented resistance from developing.”

Researchers from the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (Spain) have addressed this problem. The strategy used for this purpose has been to block the KRAS oncogene signaling pathway at three points rather than at one point at a time. Thus, when three key molecules of this signaling pathway were genetically deleted in mice, tumors completely disappeared and did not reappear.

To apply the same strategy with drugs, researchers have used a combination of three treatments: An experimental inhibitor of KRAS, a drug used in other types of cancer, and a compound that causes protein degradation. This therapy has been tested in three pancreatic cancer mouse models, all of which have achieved significant and sustained tumor regression without causing significant toxicity. The results were published in the PNAS.

The authors emphasize that the results are very promising, but that it is still time to act with caution. This triple therapy cannot be immediately translated into clinical trials, and multiple steps will be required to adapt the dose, safety and efficacy to humans.