Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive types of tumour. If surgical removal of the tumour is not possible, the remaining treatment options are severely limited in their effect. Research into the genetic causes of the development and highly aggressive course of this disease is therefore a clinically urgent concern. An international research consortium has now succeeded in creating an integrated "map" of the often complex changes in cancer cells.
Researchers co-operate worldwide
A particular difficulty with pancreatic cancer is that the tumour tissue has a very high proportion of connective tissue, in which only small amounts of the actual cancer cells can be found.
As part of the TCGA project (The Cancer Genome Atlas), an initiative of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute of the NIH in the USA, blood and tissue samples from 150 patients worldwide were collected and analysed centrally. Particular attention was paid to the quality of the analysed materials and the clinical data.
Quality of the samples is crucial
The results of this study, in which doctors and scientists from the Institute of Pathology at the Technical University of Munich and the Department of Surgery at the Klinikum rechts der Isar were involved, have now been published in the journal Cancer Cell. Thanks to high-quality biosamples, Prof Karl-Friedrich Becker and PD Dr Julia Slotta-Huspenina (both Pathology) and Prof Klaus-Peter Janssen (Surgery) were able to ensure that high-quality genome and proteome analyses can be carried out even with a low content of cancer cells.
Among other things, the authors of the study were able to describe novel genetic changes in detail for the first time, which could potentially serve as the basis for new, targeted cancer therapies.
Source: Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, partner of the Joint Biobank Munich
Scientific publications
Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network: Integrated Genomic Characterisation of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cancer Cell. 2017 Aug 14;32(2):185-203.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.07.007.