World Pancreatic Cancer day

Tomorrow is World Pancreatic Cancer day 

Pancreatic cancer is a relatively rare form of cancer, with a lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer of 1 in 76. However due to the deadly nature of the disease it is the fourth biggest killer in terms of the absolute numbers of fatalities. The main reason for the high mortality is the late detection of pancreatic cancer, with only 15-20% of cases being diagnosed at a point when are operable, leading to a median survival of less than six months and a five year survival rate of under 8%. At a time when the mortality rates of most cancers are dropping, the death rate from pancreatic cancer is still rising.

It is critical for us to understand the causes of pancreatic cancer, both so that we can develop effective treatments and also so that we can better design screening strategies for earlier detection. The known risk factors for pancreatic cancer include age, smoking, obesity, lack of physical activity, diet, type 2 diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, cirrhosis and genetic background. The big problem is that many of these risk factors are inter-connected, and it is difficult to dissect out the effect of obesity, diet and diabetes. In the Translational Immunology Laboratory we have just completed a multi-year study of more than 300 mice with pancreatic cancer. We used longitudinal MRI tracking to determine the factors that drive the development, growth and lethality of pancreatic cancer - stay tuned for our forthcoming papers that give the result!

Comments

[prof premraj pushpakaran]

prof premraj pushpakaran writes -- let us celebrate World Pancreatic Cancer Day!!!