Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms, but new research could one day lead to lives being saved.
Researchers at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester discovered that using something called nanoparticles can effectively shrink tumors in mice. They hope to someday move this research to human trials and be able to save lives.
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"If we are successful and we can engineer this correctly for the next generation, it could be quite transformative, we think," said Prabhani Atukorale, an assistant professor at UMass Amherst.
Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 66,440 cases this year. It’s one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with only a 12% survival rate after five years.
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“So we're attempting to build a 'smart therapy,' if you will," Atukorale said. "Just like your smartphone."
The researchers showed NBC10 Boston ultrasound images of a tumor before and after treatment. The team says 10 mice with tumors were treated using nanoparticles, which are so small you can't see them under a normal microscope.
Out of the 10 trials, two remained tumor-free for a long time, and eight others' tumors had been significantly reduced.
"This was quite astounding to see how stark of a difference in tumor volume size we were able to achieve with our treatment," said Marcus Ruscetti, an assistant professor at UMass Chan Medical School. "It was absolutely exciting."
Ruscetti said nanoparticles are able to go through the blood stream undetected so more of them can get to the tumor.
"We envision that this could work in patients with very late stage tumors that unfortunately haven't responded to chemotherapy, other types of therapies as a way to activate the immune system to come in and target this cancer," said Ruscetti. "Our goal ... is eventually to take what we're doing in mice are in cells and the hope is to really change people's lives."
