Spanish Researchers Eliminate Pancreatic Tumors in Mice

Scientists in Spain have achieved something that's never been done before: making pancreatic tumors completely disappear in mice with minimal side effects.

Researchers at Spain's National Cancer Research Centre developed a triple therapy approach that combines three drugs to attack pancreatic cancer from multiple angles. The treatment stopped tumors from becoming resistant to drugs, a problem that has plagued pancreatic cancer treatment for years.

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously deadly because it's usually caught too late. More than 60% of patients are already at Stage 4 by diagnosis, and symptoms like back pain and indigestion are easy to dismiss as something less serious.

Current treatments only work for a few months before tumors adapt and stop responding. The new approach solves this by targeting KRAS, a genetic mutation found in 90% of pancreatic cancer patients, at three different points instead of just one.

The therapy uses an experimental KRAS inhibitor, a protein degrader, and a lung cancer drug working together. In mice, this combination led to permanent tumor elimination, results published recently in the journal PNAS.

About 67,530 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and roughly 52,740 will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society. Those numbers make any breakthrough in treatment especially meaningful.

Why This Inspires

Lead researcher Mariano Barbacid was clear that clinical trials aren't ready to start yet. Optimizing the therapy for human use will take time and careful work.

But Barbacid and his team remain hopeful their discovery could "open the door to new therapeutic options to improve the clinical outcome of patients in the not-too-distant future." This isn't an isolated win either.

Last year, UCLA scientists developed an immunotherapy that tracked down and killed pancreatic cancer cells even after they spread to other organs. British researchers also began testing a breathalyzer that could detect cancer early, potentially the biggest diagnostic breakthrough in 50 years.

Each discovery builds on the last, bringing us closer to turning one of medicine's toughest challenges into a manageable disease.