A crucial gene that helps many organs in the body function properly could hold the key to taming one of the world’s deadliest cancers, research suggests. Scientists have discovered pancreatic cancer is able to shut down certain molecules in the HNF4A gene to help it spread and grow aggressively. This finding raises fresh hope in the hunt for more effective treatments for a disease that kills nearly 9,000 people in the UK every year and has a poor survival rate, the researchers said.
Dr Maria Hatziapostolou, a scientist in Nottingham Trent University’s John van Geest Cancer Research Centre, said: “Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival of all the 20 common cancers. “The survival of patients beyond five years has improved very little for some time and so it’s extremely important that we find new ways to better understand this disease, how it spreads and why it is so aggressive. “This work, which has provided new understanding and knowledge of how the cancer behaves, will hopefully help pave the way for potential new treatments in the future.
” There are more than 10,400 new cases of pancreatic cancer in the UK each year but only 10% of people will survive beyond five years. Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage when treatment options become limited, with more than half of patients dying within three months of diagnosis. The disease has taken the lives of high-profile patients such as Alan Rickman , Sir John Hurt , Steve Jobs and Patrick Swayz.