New treatment path seen for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult to treat among cancers today, largely owing to its resistance to chemotherapy and the lack of effective accessible treatment methods. In a study published in the journal Liver and Pancreatic Sciences, researchers investigated the effectiveness of dual thermal ablation (DTA), particularly, when compared to single thermal modalities, such as heating and freezing.

• The researchers took two pancreatic cancer lines, PANC-1 and BxPC-3, and subjected these to heating (45 to 50 degrees Celsius), freezing (-10 to -20 degrees Celsius), and dual thermal ablation.
• They determined the post-treatment viability of the cells over a seven-day recovery interval. Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry were used to analyze the modes of cell death.
• Compared to single thermal modalities, DTA caused greater levels of cell destruction at a much faster rate. Combining the two treatments resulted in an increased cell death a day after treatment and caused complete cellular destruction three days after treatment.

The researchers wrote that the results are proof of DTA’s superiority over single thermal modalities in terms of destroying pancreatic cancer cells, making it an effective potential treatment for the disease.

Find the full text of the study at this link.

For more information about pancreatic cancer, go to Cancer.news.

Journal Reference:

Baumann KW, Baust JM, Snyder KK, Baust JG, Buskirk RGV. DUAL THERMAL ABLATION OF PANCREATIC CANCER CELLS AS AN IMPROVED COMBINATORIAL TREATMENT STRATEGY. Liver and Pancreatic Sciences. 2017;2(1). DOI: 10.15761/lps.1000115