These include Cigarette smoking, Obesity, Physical inactivity, High intake of fat, Certain hereditary genes, such as BRCA, and Factors like coffee and alcohol intake and their association with pancreatic cancer have not shown consistent results.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the top ten leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide, holding the seventh position. It is calculated that incidence rates of this type of cancer have been increasing by around 1 per cent each year since 2000. Smoking, diabetes, overweight or obesity, chronic pancreatitis, family history of pancreatic cancer, and certain genetic syndromes are identified as major risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Often, patients do not experience symptoms in the early stages of the disease and hence most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage when it is mostly incurable. However, pancreatic cancer can potentially be cured, if caught very early. Current treatment options for this type of cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. However, there is limited effective immunotherapy options for pancreatic cancer.
Here's the good news! Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered another possible treatment options for pancreatic cancer, called tipple immunotherapy combination.
They are optimistic that this novel immunotherapy combination may be used for treating other non-immunogenic cancers as well.
The triple combination therapy, which targets immune checkpoint proteins 41BB, LAG3 and CXCR2, resulted in complete tumor regression and improved overall survival in 90 per cent of preclinical models of pancreatic cancer. 41BB and LAG are expressed in exhausted T cells, and CXCR2 is expressed in myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). The study results were reported in Nature Cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is known to be invulnerable to commonly used anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitors, partly due to the immunosuppressive conditions in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). The novel immunotherapy combination can successfully reprogram the TIME and significantly improved anti-tumor responses, the authors said.
The researchers noted that the immunotherapy agents they have used are currently undergoing clinical trials as monotherapies. This means the triple combination may soon be translated into clinical studies.
In most cases of pancreatic cancer, symptoms develop only when the cancer has spread outside the pancreas. Common symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice (yellowing of the eyes or skin), abdomen pain, back pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and weight loss.
Sometimes, symptoms of pancreatic cancer can be mistaken to those of other infections of the gastro tract. This is one reason why many patients appear to dismiss these symptoms.
One study suggested that people who put on excess weight or become obese before the age of 50 are at a higher risk of dying from pancreatic cancer.
A 2020 study published in the UEG Journal found weight loss or bariatric surgery associated with significant reduction in the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in obese patients with diabetes.
Smokers are twice as likely to get pancreatic cancer than non-smokers. Cigarette smoking is believed to be responsible for about 25 per cent of pancreatic cancers.
Sadly, we cannot prevent most pancreatic cancers, and we cannot control risk factors like age, gender, race, and family history. But one can reduce their risk of developing the disease to some level by maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake.
