Pancreatic Cancer

Overview of Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC, mostly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancers, with a median survival of less than 1 year and 5-year survival of only about 10%. 80% of patients with PDAC are inoperable at diagnosis, and there is no curative treatment for advanced PDAC. Compared with other types of cancer, PC has a unique tumor microenvironment (TME) that accounts for more than 80% of total pancreatic tumor masses, consisting of the extracellular matrix and numerous types of cellular components. Among them, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are responsible for the production of extracellular matrix and regulation of tumor behavior, forming a physical barrier for drug delivery and leading to medication resistance.

Due to its systemic and aggressive nature, complex mutational environment, desmoplastic stroma, and effective immunosuppressive TME, PC is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with poorer outcomes compared to other solid tumors and a lack of effective therapeutic treatments to cure them. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new, effective and well-tolerated therapies for the treatment of this disease.

Pancreatic Cancer Detection and Diagnosis

PC is one of the most deadly malignancies in the United States, with late clinical presentation, early metastasis, and poor prognosis. Although it takes more than 17 years for PC to progress from mutation to metastatic cancer, reliable early identification methods are lacking. If diagnosed early, providing a window of opportunity for early detection and thus potentially significantly improve overall survival. Here, we briefly describe the diagnostic strategies and the potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of PC.

Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Strategies

Currently, surgery and chemotherapy are still the main treatments for PC. Over the past three decades, PC has made few breakthroughs in practice compared to other cancers. Therefore, new treatment options for improvement are highly desirable. Currently, new therapeutic options such as next-generation targeted therapies, tumor microenvironment-targeted therapies, and oncolytic viral therapies are in hot development. Here, we give an overview of some treatment strategies.

Molecular Advances in Pancreatic Cancer

With the advent of "omics" research and the global analysis of biological systems at the molecular level using high-throughput technologies, new advances have been made in improving PC diagnosis and treatment. A growing number of studies have revealed the underlying molecular mechanisms of PC, including genomic subtypes of PC, proteomic subtypes of PC, and metabolomic subtypes of PC. Here, we will outline these molecular mechanisms and list some representative molecules as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis, prediction, and prognostic indications of PC.

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Our Services

Alfa Cytology is committed to providing our customers with optimal customized services and solutions to meet the specific needs of their projects. Our services include, but are not limited to the following list:

Further exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation, progression, and maintenance of PC.
Discovery of new molecular targets driving PC initiation, progression, and metastasis that can be used as new therapeutic or treatment targets.
Preclinical evaluation of new anticancer drugs and strategies for PC.
Screening and identification of new validated biomarkers for early detection of PC.

All of our services are intended for preclinical research use only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.

As the scientific machine continues to turn, Alfa Cytology is committed to keeping pace. We continue to expand our services and improve our existing resources to help our customers accelerate their research and support their careers.