Pancreatic cancer, promising tests from Spain but no cure yet

'Results are promising, but clinical victory requires human studies'. The Italian Society of Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy (Sige) urges caution about the efficacy of an experimental therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the results of which were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States of America. 'This is a disease that still has one of the highest mortality rates in oncology,' explains Sige, 'and although the study conducted by the group from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, led by Professor Mariano Barbacid, represents a valuable scientific advance, it is necessary to reiterate that we are in an experimental phase, conducted exclusively on mice, in a context that requires extreme caution before we can speak of a definitive therapeutic breakthrough for patients.

'Success obtained in the laboratory does not automatically guarantee an identical outcome in humans,' says Sige president Luca Frulloni. The biology of human pancreatic cancer is of such complexity that it requires rigorous validation through structured clinical trials, which are essential to confirm that the therapy is not only effective but also tolerable in the long term'.

In short, the transition from animal models to clinical practice 'is a long and delicate path and therefore, these results must be interpreted not as a final goal, but as a valuable compass to guide future clinical research'. 'The scientific community, and first and foremost Sige,' Frulloni adds, 'is confident, but the priority remains to proceed with methodological rigour in order to transform this laboratory evidence into real hope for a cure'.

The research conducted in Madrid showed how the combined action of inhibition on three strategic nodes of the cell signalling pathways of the KRAS gene, which encodes a protein that regulates cell growth - specifically RAF1, EGFR and STAT3 - is able to induce complete tumour regression without the appearance of drug resistance over a prolonged period. This strategy has shown unprecedented efficacy in mice, overcoming one of the main obstacles of current therapy: the speed with which pancreatic cancer cells learn to evade drugs.

And it is precisely pancreatic cancer that will be among the first research fields of the alliance between the Umberto Veronesi Foundation Ets and the Federation of Italian Cooperative Oncology Groups (Ficog). For Carmine Pinto, director of the Medical Oncology of the Ausl-Irccs of Reggio Emilia and past president of Ficog, 'the alliance with the Veronesi Foundation will lead to deepening areas in which there is a strong clinical need, starting with pancreatic cancer, which affects about 13,500 people every year in Italia. Five-year survival is still low, at 11% in men and 12% in women. This neoplasm remains one of the great challenges for oncology, in which we still have a long way to go, both in terms of research and prevention'.