New Directions in Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer – Dr Androulla Elia.
An update from one of our research teams at St George’s University of London.
Pancreatic cancer is frequently resistant to conventional therapies. Research supported by the Ralph Bates Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund has helped our understanding of how certain therapies work. Our previous research has shown how using one such reagent known as TRAIL in combination with celastrol, an ingredient of herbal medicine, can be effective at killing even more pancreatic cancer cells. This research was published in the journal Biology of the Cell, an achievement which would not have been possible without the generous support of the charity.
In addition to this project our research also focused on how the human immune system can be modulated to respond effectively to tumour cells using potential therapy. We were able to present this work at several meetings throughout the year. In particular we were privileged to present our data at the Cancer Vaccine Institute International Symposium on Immunotherapy at the Royal Society as an oral and poster presentation. Additionally during this period we also presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Ann Harbor, MD, USA.
Our new project will now consider novel methods by which current treatments used in pancreatic cancer can be made more effective and so we will be using gemcitabine in our studies. This round of funding will allow supervision of an additional researcher to this project, Ricky Henry-Grant who will be undertaking this research for her master’s degree.
We look forward to another successful year of research and would to take this opportunity to thank the Fund for their support of this current project as it represents an exciting opportunity to considerably advance both our scientific knowledge and potential treatment targets in pancreatic cancer. Your support has been invaluable as it has allowed us to build a strong foundation for future discovery.
Dr Androulla Elia.
December 2014.
Note from the Fund; Dr Elia is a well-known, highly experienced and valuable member of our research teams. She is dedicated to finding a cure for pancreatic cancer and for other cancers and we are proud and pleased to be able to support her work.
