Using focussed ultrasound to boost the immune response to pancreatic cancer

The Challenge

We desperately need new and more effective treatment options for pancreatic cancer. Due to challenges in detecting the disease at an early stage, over 80% of patients are diagnosed too late, when the cancer has already spread to other organs. Current treatments are limited and highly toxic – and people with pancreatic cancer are often too unwell to tolerate the challenging side-effects they cause.

Immunotherapy is a rapidly emerging new treatment option for cancer and has already been very successful in treating other forms of cancer such as leukaemia. However, pancreatic cancers are surrounded by a dense outer layer of tissue, making them very good at hiding from the immune system and suppressing its activity. It is thought that this could be one reason why immunotherapy has so far been less successful in pancreatic cancer.

The Project

Combining immunotherapy with other treatment options which aim to first weaken the thick outer layer of the tumour could help the drugs more effectively reach and destroy the cancer cells.

In this project, the research team will investigate the potential of combining immunotherapy with another treatment called focussed ultrasound. This technique uses high frequency sound waves to destroy tumour tissue, making it easier for immunotherapy drugs to enter and destroy cancer cells. Focussed ultrasound is also thought to be able to boost the immune response, making immunotherapy more effective.

The research team aim to understand how different types of focussed ultrasound treatment interact with the immune system and different immunotherapy drugs, to identify the best way of combining these two techniques to most effectively treat pancreatic cancer.

The Hope

This research project could lead to new treatment options being available for pancreatic cancer, allowing more people to receive effective treatment for this devastating disease. It could also pave the way for further developments in immunotherapy and chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, if weakening the tough outer layer of the tumours is shown to increase the ability of drugs to reach and destroy cancer cells.