Fresh hope in pancreatic cancer war

Pancreatic cancer cells can be destroyed by combining two drugs, giving hope that more effective treatments can be developed to combat the disease, reseachers revealed Monday. The research by Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute showed that combining a chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine with an experimental drug called MRK003 sets off a chain of events that ultimately kills cancer cells - multiplying the effect of each drug on its own. The research was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. MRK003 blocks an important cell signalling pathway called Notch in both pancreatic cancer cells and the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels supplying tumours with essential nutrients. Experts found the addition of MRK003 to gemcitabine - a drug used commonly in patients with pancreatic cancer - increased the ability of gemcitabine to destroy tumours. Study author Professor David Tuveson said, "we've discovered why these two drugs together set off a domino effect of molecular activity to switch off cell survival processes and destroy pancreatic cancer cells." Around 8,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year and the disease is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK. Survival rates are very low in relation to other cancers and the length of time between diagnosis and death is typically short, usually less than six months. The most recent data for England show that around 16% of patients survive their disease beyond 12 months after diagnosis - prompting the need for new treatments. The discovery is now a clinical trial being led by Duncan Jodrell, professor of cancer therapeutics at the University of Cambridge. The disease is often not diagnosed until it has spread, making it very difficult to treat