Let’s shine some light on this silent killer

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and World Pancreatic Cancer Day falls on the 16^th November. To mark the occasion, this month’s blog post is all about pancreatic cancer – what it is, who it affects, and what we’re doing to try and combat it.

Despite being the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia, pancreatic cancer has a very low profile, with only 5% of Australians ranking it as their preferred choice for more research investment. Shockingly, pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 6.8% – a figure that has barely improved for thirty years.

Pancreatic cancer is by no means uncommon, with more than 3,000 new diagnoses each year in Australia, most of those in the over 60s age bracket. In fact, pancreatic cancer is quite rare in people under 40 years.

It is often called a ‘silent disease’, as changes to the pancreas – which is located behind the stomach – are commonly not noticed until the cancer grows large enough to affect surrounding organs. Early symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and changes in bowel movements can be attributed to many other conditions, and it is not until the advanced stages of the disease that symptoms become more pronounced and obvious. The more noticeable signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer can include upper abdominal pain, jaundice, loss of appetite, weight loss, depression and/or blood clots, however these may not appear until the cancer is quite advanced.

Late detection and diagnosis is what leads to the dismally low five-year survival rates – sadly, by the time pancreatic cancer is detected, more often than not it is too late to do much about it.

Unfortunately, little is known about the causes of pancreatic cancer, although we do know that it can be caused by mutations in a person’s genes. Other risk factors for pancreatic cancer include smoking, obesity and certain genetic conditions, and people who suffer from chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) are also at serious risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

So, what are we doing about this awful, deadly cancer?

Garvan has teamed up with some of Australia’s leading cancer researchers and pancreatic cancer advocates to form the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance, a group dedicated to raising awareness and finding the causes of, effective treatments for, and ways to improve early detection of, pancreatic cancer.

As part of this alliance, a research team at Garvan, working as part of the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APCGI), is currently applying genomic data to unlock the molecular biology of pancreatic cancer, to develop new cancer treatments tailored to individual patients. This branch of ‘personalised’ medicine, also known as genomic medicine, treats each cancer in an individualised manner; the location of the cancer becomes less important, and researchers focus more on the actual behaviour of that specific cancer.

Another Garvan research team is using cutting-edge nanotechnology imaging to pinpoint the molecular drivers of pancreatic cancer, in order to stop it from spreading.

To mark Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and World Pancreatic Cancer Day on 16^th November, I’d like to encourage you to learn as much as you can about this terrible disease, and to donate what you can to the amazing researchers at Garvan who are making great strides towards better detection, better treatments, and better survival rates for people with pancreatic cancer.