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Researchers at UR Medicine’s Wilmot Cancer Institute recently received a $3 million federal grant to develop a new generation of treatments for pancreatic cancer.
Darren Carpizo M.D. and Scott Gerber are studying factors—inside and outside pancreatic cells—that create conditions for cancer to resist treatment and spread with ease. Carpizo is professor of surgery and of biomedical genetics, and Gerber is associate professor of surgery, microbiology and immunology, and radiation oncology.
Carpizo and Gerber’s approach combines immunotherapy with localized, targeted radiotherapy focused on a tumor’s surrounding environment and an experimental drug, NP137, to hit cancer cells themselves. The funds for the research came from the National Cancer Institute.
They believe their approach can kill cancer cells while also reprogramming the surrounding environment to become less hospitable to cancer returning, URMC officials say. A Phase I clinical trial will be launched after regulatory approvals.
This area of research is one that URMC CEO David Linehan has worked on, laying the groundwork for this project. Linehan, in collaboration with Gerber and Carpizo, has been working to understand how cancerous cells in the pancreas trigger the growth of noncancerous ones and how to combine standard treatments with immune therapies and radiation.
Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal cancer among major cancers. According to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, more than 67,000 Americans, or 184 people each day, are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year. The cancer tends to have a high mortality rate because of its asymptomatic nature in early stages. It is an aggressive disease that typically spreads rapidly.
Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor. Contributing writer Narm Nathan assisted with this article.
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