An international group of
researchers led by Verona University's Davide Melisi have come
up with a new therapeutic strategy for treating patients
affected with advanced pancreatic surgery.
The researchers have shown that a molecule called
galunisertib is capable of inhibiting the action of TGFβ, one of
the main factors in the disease's growth and spread.
The new drug, in addition to standard chemotherapy with
gemcitabina, can in fact increase in a statistically significant
manner, overall survival and survival free of disease
progression in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer and a
very favourable toxicity profile.
The results of the clinical trials with galunisertib were
presented today that the annual meeting of the American
Association for Cancer Research in New Orleans.
"Cancer of the pancreas," said Melisi, "is one of the
deadliest and least explored human tumours.
"The severe prognosis of our patients is basically linked to
phenomena of precocious metastasization during the development
of this disease, which are responsible for the already advanced
onset of most cases, the intrinsic aggressiveness of this
disease, and, above all, the limited efficacy of current
treatments with classic chemotherapy drugs.
"For this reason, in the last few years, we have focused
our studies on the role of the various signals induced by
TGFβ which are the reason of the particular resistance of the
cancer to classic chemotherapy drugs in various preclinical
trials".
The international clinical trials were conducted in Verona
by the Clinical Research Centre of the hospital to assess the
efficacy and tolerability of the treatment with gemcitabina in
combination with the new drug in in 156 patients affected by
advanced cancer of the pancreas.
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