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Amber Dance
A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is devastating news. Though it makes up only about 3 percent of cancers in the United States, it’s one of the deadliest, and on track for a dark achievement: By 2030, it’s expected to kill more people in the United States than any cancer except for lung cancer. This apparent paradox is arising because screening and treatments for other cancers have surged ahead, while pancreatic cancer has remained tricky both to identify and to treat.
Nonetheless, there’s reason for hope, says Anna Berkenblit, chief scientific and medical officer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in El Segundo, California, which supports research and helps patients. Scientists are testing new medicines that disable drivers of cancer that were once considered undruggable. They’re training patients’ immune systems to attack tumors once thought to be invisible to the body’s defenses. And they’re harnessing artificial intelligence to catch pancreatic cancer in early, vulnerable stages.
“The goal is to transform pancreatic cancer into a curable disease,” says Andrew Rakeman, vice president of research for the Lustgarten Foundation on Long Island, New York, which supports science on pancreatic cancer. Or, at least, “something that’s survivable, and livable, and can become more of a chronic condition.”
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