Park­er-backed can­cer sci­en­tists shine a light on an emerg­ing path­way in pan­cre­at­ic can­cer

A cou­ple of high-pro­file can­cer re­searchers at MD An­der­son backed by the Park­er In­sti­tute have been ex­plor­ing an ex­per­i­men­tal path­way that they be­lieve shows some re­al po­ten­tial in treat­ing pan­cre­at­ic can­cer. And the news could buoy de­vel­op­ers beaver­ing away at clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment in this are­na of im­munother­a­py.

Pad­ma­nee Shar­ma along with her long­time col­lab­o­ra­tor, hus­band and No­bel lau­re­ate Jim Al­li­son ap­proached the is­sue by com­par­ing pan­cre­at­ic can­cer tu­mors against melanoma, where PD-1/L1 and CT­LA-4 check­point in­hibitors have showed some of their great­est suc­cess­es. Pan­cre­at­ic can­cer, though, has a small 5-year sur­vival rate, demon­strat­ing its re­sis­tance to the new check­point class of drugs now out on the mar­ket.

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