Irving, TX – Pancreatic cancer incidence keeps increasing every year in patients across the world. The disease is challenging to treat due to its ability to dampen the immune assault. Standard treatments like radiation therapy and chemotherapy offer limited benefits.

“Scientists are working to improve immunotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer,” explained Dr. Echt. “A lot of clinical trials for immunotherapy are ongoing to provide more novel options for treating the disease. They will strengthen the immune system to attack and kill cancer cells with much success.”

Let us look at the available types of immunotherapy treatments currently used on pancreatic cancer patients:

• Monoclonal antibodies – These are antibodies created in the laboratory to attack cancer cells or mark them to allow the immune system to find and destroy them

• Checkpoint inhibitors – Checkpoint inhibitors work by prompting the immune system to destroy cancer cells in the body. Cancer cells can sometimes manipulate the checkpoints to prevent the immune system from attacking them. But the new drugs that target the checkpoints can fight back and eliminate cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitors can also be used on pancreatic cancer patients whose cells have specific gene mutations and those whose cancer has recurred after treatment.

• Adoptive cell transfer – This is when doctors use the patient's own immune cells to treat their cancer. The drugs target T cells to fight cancerous cells and spare healthy cells. They will boost the immune system's response against pancreatic cancer and shrink the tumors.

“Immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer work well through clinical trials,” continued Dr. Echt. "Clinical trials offer the best options for pancreatic cancer and will give you early access to top-of-the-line treatments that will not only improve your treatment outcomes but also help in research progress."

About The Sandler-Kenner Foundation

The Sandler-Kenner Foundation, established in 2007 as the Las Colinas Cancer Center Foundation, was renamed in early 2011 in the memory of Michael Sandler and Peter Kenner, both of whom passed away from pancreatic cancer, a lethal disease that is difficult to diagnose until it has reached an advanced stage.

Visit them at https://helpfightpancreaticcancer.org/facts-about-pancreatic-cancer/ to know more.