Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies responsible for high mortality and cancer-related deaths worldwide. There has been development in treatment and therapeutic strategies including targeted therapies, immunotherapy and advanced radiological techniques. However, the overall survival rate and prognosis of pancreatic cancer remains poor as the 5-year survival rate is approximately less than 10%. The poor prognosis is primarily due to the challenges with early detection as clinical symptoms at the early stage are relatively minor and can be asymptomatic. Therefore, patients are typically diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease and are not able to proceed with surgical resection. Locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) patients are typically treated with chemotherapy combined with consolidative radiotherapy as an option in response to systemic therapy. However, the survival rates remain fairly low compared to surgical treatment.
The common treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients are chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Approximately 40% of patients who survive the disease received radiotherapy. However, radiation therapy has presented many challenges due to inherent or acquired radiation resistance. Studies have tried to identify why resistance occurs and is thought to be due to potential alternation with the tumor itself and the surrounding microenvironment including inhibition of apoptosis, increased DNA repair and inflammation. There are also various pathways such as PI3K/AKT, Notch, Foxo and many more which have been found to regulate endogenous signals and contribute to resistance to radiation therapy. However, molecular mechanisms involved in radioresistance need to be further studied to be understood and improve the survival rate and prognosis for pancreatic cancer patients. Studies have been performed to identify specific mutations which affect radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer using whole exome sequencing. This method could potentially identify therapeutic response predictive biomarkers to help the development of novel radiosensitizers.
This Research Topic aims to generate a discussion around the impact of current radiotherapy strategies and challenges found with pancreatic cancer. We welcome Original Research Article, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Mini Reviews and Case Reports.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies responsible for high mortality and cancer-related deaths worldwide. There has been development in treatment and therapeutic strategies including targeted therapies, immunotherapy and advanced radiological techniques. However, the overall survival rate and prognosis of pancreatic cancer remains poor as the 5-year survival rate is approximately less than 10%. The poor prognosis is primarily due to the challenges with early detection as clinical symptoms at the early stage are relatively minor and can be asymptomatic. Therefore, patients are typically diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease and are not able to proceed with surgical resection. Locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) patients are typically treated with chemotherapy combined with consolidative radiotherapy as an option in response to systemic therapy. However, the survival rates remain fairly low compared to surgical treatment.
The common treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients are chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Approximately 40% of patients who survive the disease received radiotherapy. However, radiation therapy has presented many challenges due to inherent or acquired radiation resistance. Studies have tried to identify why resistance occurs and is thought to be due to potential alternation with the tumor itself and the surrounding microenvironment including inhibition of apoptosis, increased DNA repair and inflammation. There are also various pathways such as PI3K/AKT, Notch, Foxo and many more which have been found to regulate endogenous signals and contribute to resistance to radiation therapy. However, molecular mechanisms involved in radioresistance need to be further studied to be understood and improve the survival rate and prognosis for pancreatic cancer patients. Studies have been performed to identify specific mutations which affect radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer using whole exome sequencing. This method could potentially identify therapeutic response predictive biomarkers to help the development of novel radiosensitizers.
This Research Topic aims to generate a discussion around the impact of current radiotherapy strategies and challenges found with pancreatic cancer. We welcome Original Research Article, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Mini Reviews and Case Reports.
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.