Queens researchers to develop new pancreatic cancer drug
Study gets backing for four years
A new study by Queens University is hoping to develop a new treatment for pancreatic cancer.
Researchers will undergo a four year study into immunotherapy, aimed at targeting the disease which can be very difficult to treat.
According to Cancer Research UK, only 1% of Pancreatic cancer patients survive in the UK.
Professor Christopher Scott from the centre for cancer research and cell biology at Queens, says conventional therapies can be problematic:
"The biology of pancreatic cancers is actually quite unique.
"Cancer cells don't exist on their own, they actually recruit in normal cells around them and it becomes a very complex biology.
"Historically, we have tried to treat tumours with chemotherapy and there's a lot of side effects of that.
"In the last number of years we've realised the potential to harness our own immune systems, to deal with the cancers themselves."
The Queen’s team will work with therapeutic antibody development specialists Fusion Antibodies plc to develop these prototypes.
Professor Chris Scott says the study could change survival rates for the better :
“This exciting project is very much in line with the research ethos of Queen's University, which is centred on Global Challenges.
"With this discovery, we hope to change the lives of people across the world who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"Drug development takes years.
"Whilst we are always optimistic, it could be at least five to eight years before we see the benefits of our work either through a drug that we can produce ourselves or through increased understanding of the biology of these canvases that allow us to develop a next generation agent."