Pancreatic cancer finding could lead to new treatments

Pancreatic cancer is actually four separate diseases, a new study suggests.
The international team of researchers involved said the diseases have different genetic triggers and survival rates, adding the finding could pave the way for more accurate diagnoses and treatments.
Scientists, led by professor Sean Grimmond, formerly of The University of Queenslandâs Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), now the director of research in the University of Melbourneâs Centre for Cancer Research, analysed the genomes of 456 pancreatic tumours to determine the core processes that are damaged when normal pancreatic tissues change into aggressive cancers.
Grimmond said the team identified 32 genes from 10 genetic pathways that are consistently mutated in pancreatic tumours and added further analysis of gene activity revealed four distinct subtypes of tumours.
The study demonstrated that pancreatic cancer is better considered as four separate diseases, with different survival rates, treatments and underlying genetics, he said.
âKnowing which subtype a patient has would allow a doctor to provide a more accurate prognosis and treatment recommendations,â Grimmond said, adding there are already cancer drugs, and drugs in development, that can potentially target the âcluster of machineryâ in cells where pancreatic cancer can start.
For example, some of the strains of pancreatic cancer the team discovered are âunexpectedly associated with mutations normally associated with colon cancer or leukaemiaâ, for which there are experimental drugs available or in development, he said.
Others bear strong similarities some bladder and lung cancers, and Grimmond said scientists can begin to draw on that knowledge to improve treatments.
Published in the journal Nature, the study built on earlier research from the team, as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
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