HUNDREDS of patients are being recruited to test out ‘tailor-made’ therapies in a new multi-million pound Scottish study aimed at improving survival rates for one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
Pancreatic cancer patients will be allocated to one of three clinical trials based on the molecular profile of their tumours in the latest drive to create more effective, "personalised" treatments.
The project, known as Precision Panc, is being funded by a total of £10 million by Cancer Research UK and will be led by scientists at Glasgow University and the CRUK Clinical Trials Unit at Glasgow’s Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.
Professor Andrew Biankin, the Regius Chair of Surgery at Glasgow University's Institute of Cancer Sciences, has pioneered the project over the past three years in collaboration with researchers from across the UK.
He said: “Precision Panc aims to transform how we treat pancreatic cancer by matching the right treatment to the right patient.
“Because the disease is so aggressive, patients may receive no treatment at all or if they are given an option it will be for just one line of treatment, so it’s essential that the most suitable treatment is identified quickly. It’s important we offer all patients the opportunity to be part of research alongside their standard care.”
Despite improvements for other forms of cancer, survival rates from pancreatic cancer have remained stubbornly low. The disease claims around 730 lives a year in Scotland, and the five-year survival rate ranges from five per cent for patients with a more advanced stage two to just one per cent for those diagnosed as stage four.
Researchers will recruit 658 patients in centres across the UK and use the molecular profile of each person's cancer to offer patients and their doctor a menu of trials that might benefit them. It will initially launch with three different trials with the scope to expand out to others in future. Patients will also be helped on to existing trials which are already up and running.
The first wave of research will establish the best way to collect and profile patient tissue samples. Each patient will have up to five samples taken from their tumour at diagnosis for analysis at Glasgow University.
Overall, the programme aims to speed up recruitment and enrolment of pancreatic cancer patients to clinical trials that are right for the individual patient. It will also ensure that discoveries from the lab rapidly reach patients, and that data from clinical trials feed back into research of the disease.
Professor Biankin, who relocated to Glasgow from Australia in 2013, added: “Precision Panc has been developed over the course of three years through the unwavering commitment of pancreatic clinicians and researchers across the UK who see that the patients deserve much more than is currently available to them.
“I’m fully committed to this project and I believe we’re on the cusp of making some incredible advances which will provide therapeutic options to help people affected by this terrible disease.
“This investment from Cancer Research UK, together with the commitment from our other stakeholders, puts Glasgow at the centre of pancreatic cancer treatment and research in the UK, if not the whole of Europe.”
Victoria Steven, Cancer Research UK’s spokesperson in Scotland, said: “This ambitious project marks a new era for pancreatic cancer and puts Glasgow at the forefront of pancreatic cancer research.
“Little progress has been made in outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients, and Precision Panc will reshape how we approach treatment development.
“Scots have every right to feel proud of the ground-breaking research into ¬cancer taking place on their doorstep and of their fundraising efforts that allow us to bring forward the day when we can beat this devastating disease.”
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