Researchers from Toulouse (France) found that the progression of pancreatic cancer can be completely stopped by blocking a certain enzyme in the body.
This is one of the most deadly cancers: each year in France alone, 12,000 people die from pancreatic cancer , while around 13,000 new cases are registered annually. In Russia the same order of numbers: in one year nearly 15 thousand new cases of pancreatic cancer, representing 3.1% of all new cancers in men and 2.4% in women. The average age of onset of Russians male – 63,6 years, women – to 66.5 years. The mortality rate for men was 8.6 per 100 thousand population (average age 63.5 years), among women was 4.4 per 100 thousands (average age 70 years). World statistics are also impressive – more than 250,000 people die annually of pancreatic cancer.
The survival rate for 5 years is very low: only 20% if the disease is diagnosed early enough (remember that pancreatic cancer is too often confused with chronic pancreatitis ), and if the patient went through chemotherapy. According to some experts, in 2020, pancreas cancer is able even to rise in the Oncology ranking enough to become the second leading cause of cancer mortality in Europe.
However, hope appeared: recently a team of scientists from Toulouse has discovered a way to prevent the spread of cancer cells in the context of pancreatic cancer. The secret? To block enzyme activity titidindezaminaza (CDA) is a natural enzyme involved in cell development, announced the discovery at the world Congress of Oncology in Toulouse (Toulouse Onco Week) according to the information Sciencesetavenir.
The discovery was made by chance, according to Dr. Pierre Cordeliers, Director of research at Inserm Toulouse cancer centre (CTRC). “After you block an enzyme titidindezaminaza, we found that proliferation of cancer cells is greatly reduced, and without chemotherapy,” he said.” We didn’t expect this at all. It was believed that the removal of CDA only helps the process of chemotherapy. But unexpectedly it turned out that the absence of the enzyme titidindezaminaza stops the progression of tumors! “.
This is great news, which should contribute to the development of new therapies for pancreatic cancer. However, you have to wait another 5-10 years until they become available to a wide range of people, says Dr. the Cordeliers.
