Pancreatic cancer is considered one of the most deadliest types of cancer and although survival rates have been improving over the years it’s still thought of as incurable.
The disease causes 3 percent of all cancers in the U.S. affecting 57,000 people.
But now scientists have made a major breakthrough in finding a treatment for this killer disease.
Drugs can shrink killer tumors
A team of scientists from San Diego have found a combination of two drugs can shrink the killer tumors.
The drugs are L-asparaginase and an MEK inhibitor and are already used to treat patients with other cancers, the Daily Mail reports.
Now it’s hoped that trials can be carried out on patients to bring this treatment to all those cancer sufferers, after this latest study was carried out on mice.
Pancreatic cancer is not normally diagnosed until its advanced stages as there are no symptoms in the early stages. Experts say as little as 5 percent of patients will survive five years after being diagnosed, the Daily Mail reports.
Pancreatic cancer therapy ‘lagging’
Senior author Dr Ze’ev Ronai, from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, in San Diego said: “The sad reality is at present, pancreatic cancer therapy is lagging since there is no effective treatment for these tumors.
“Our study identifies a potential treatment combination that can immediately be tested against these aggressive tumors.”
He added that during the study: “Pancreatic tumors were almost eliminated.”
In the same study, the scientists showed that the two treatments also shrank melanoma tumors in mice.
Please share with someone who has been touched by this deadly disease and to help raise awareness.
