Professor Michael Schmid and a specialist team at University of Liverpool are investigating how chemotherapy activates immune cell responses against pancreatic cancer that has spread to the liver, with the aim of developing more effective combination therapies. Together the interdisciplinary research team consists of scientists, clinicians and data scientists.
During previous research the team has uncovered that the spread and growth of pancreatic cancer cells in the liver (a process known as metastasis) rely heavily on the assistance of certain immune cells in the liver. These immune cells, which are not cancerous, play a crucial role in creating an environment that helps the cancer cells survive and grow. Even though chemotherapy initially reduces the cancer, these immune cells may help cancer cells survive and eventually cause the cancer to come back.
Our immune cells are trained to detect and kill cancer cells efficiently, but during tumour formation this ability is lost, allowing cancer cells to grow and spread in our body. Professor Schmid and his team are now identifying mechanisms that will explain why the activation of an anti-tumour immune response fails during pancreatic cancer metastasis.
During the initial phase of standard care chemotherapy, the immune system is re-activated in the metastatic tumour of pancreatic cancer. Early research findings indicate that chemotherapy can stimulate the immune system in a way that will be beneficial and, by leveraging this immune response, it may be possible to develop better treatment strategies for patients with pancreatic cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Professor Schmid said: “Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive disease and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death. Currently, the majority of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has metastasised are unable to undergo surgery and ultimately succumb to the disease, thus a better understanding of the complex biology of the metastatic process and the identification of novel targets to inhibit metastatic progression are urgently needed to improve current treatments.
“The goal of our study aims to address this gap of knowledge and identify the target metastasis promoting mechanisms to inhibit metastasis progression of the disease. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying liver metastasis and the development of new therapeutic strategies to inhibit liver metastasis is clinically important and an unmet need in pancreatic cancer.”
