Full transcript
0:00Scientists just got one step closer to
0:02curing pancreatic cancer. In this week's
0:04contribution from the medical journal
0:05Penas, researchers from the Spanish
0:07National Cancer Center revealed
0:08groundbreaking findings in the fight
0:10against pancreatic ductal
0:11adenocarcinoma, a notoriously aggressive
0:14and resilient cancer with less than 11%
0:16surviving to the 5-year mark. For any
0:18cancer treatment, there is a risk that
0:20the tumor develops resistance and the
0:22treatment stops being effective. So in
0:24particularly aggressive forms like
0:25pancreatic cancer that grow, mutate and
0:27develop resistance quickly, a
0:29fundamental shift in our strategy for
0:31how we treat them was needed. To
0:32confront this notoriously resilient
0:34biology, Dr. Mariano Barbid and the CNO
0:37team adopted a deliberately multiffront
0:39strategy. Normally growth signals enter
0:41the cancer through the EGFR family of
0:43receptors at the cell membrane. They
0:45propagate internally via crashdriven
0:48signaling cascades which then ultimately
0:50activate transcription factors such as
0:52stat 3 that trigger the tumor cells to
0:54grow and evade our immune systems. To
0:56disrupt this signaling process, the team
0:58used the drug aphanatib to block the
1:00egfr receptors, reducing the amount of
1:02incoming growth factor that made its way
1:04into the cell. In combination, they also
1:06used the drug durax and rasip to
1:08directly inhibit crass and prevent the
1:10growth signal cascades. Finally, they
1:12used SD36, a targeted protein degrader
1:15to physically dismantle any stat 3 that
1:17made its way through this process. So,
1:19no growth signals reach the cell by
1:21blocking the signal input, intracellular
1:23propagation, and transcriptional output
1:25simultaneously. This combination
1:27suppresses not just tumor growth, but
1:29also the cell's ability to rroot a
1:31signal and resist any single blockade.
1:33The research team took this triple
1:34threat therapy and tested it on three
1:36advanced pre-clinical models, [music]
1:38direct pancreas tumors, genetically
1:40engineered mice, and patient derived
1:42xenographs. And they achieved a result
1:44that we have never seen before. Tumors
1:46vanished without a trace and showed no
1:48reoccurrence for over 200 days. And the
1:50team saw no evidence that the tumors
1:52were learning to become resistant. This
1:54study is an unprecedented milestone and
1:56an amazing achievement. Beyond just a
1:58single targeted therapy, if this is
2:00successful in humans, it could move
2:02pancreatic cancer from a devastating
2:04disease to one that is manageable within
2:06the next decade. Basically, it's a
2:08wellexecuted pinser move by highly
2:10trained professionals. If you like
2:11science that's more clever than crass,
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