Patrick Swayze Dies of Pancreatic Cancer
Star Had Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, Served as Cancer Research Advocate
Part of Swayze’s lasting legacy may be his role in casting attention to experimental treatments for pancreatic cancer.
"It absolutely raises the profile of the disease to have someone well known and well-loved like Patrick Swayze have this be a public diagnosis," Michelle Duff, director of research and scientific affairs at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) in El Segundo, Calif., told WebMD previously. "Having his name in People magazine and other celebrity magazines certainly raises awareness for pancreatic cancer."
In fact, there was a pronounced spike in calls to PANCAN’s patient liaison program after Swayze's diagnosis became public, Duff said. The patient liaison program is a call-in program for patients and families that provides free information about the cancer.
Singh said there are some promising treatments in various stages of clinical trials. Researchers are also looking for genetic markers for early detection. In the future, blood tests may tell if someone tests positive for certain genes that portend risk of pancreatic cancer.
“No single therapy is absolute at the present time," Singh said. "It's analogous to multiple freeways. If you block off the main freeway, the cancer will find an alternative freeway and if you block off the alternative freeway, the cancer will find a surface route,” he says.
Put another way: "We can knock out several genes, but cancer cells are so smart that they will find a way of bypassing that route,” Singh said.
For these reasons, Singh predicts that various therapies that attack several routes will be the way to treat any cancer, including pancreatic cancer.
"Treatment vaccines look fairly promising for a good number of patients who have had the pancreatic tumor removed and then get a vaccine to prevent the disease from coming back," Duff says. "These vaccines basically stimulate the body's own immune system to fight the cancer and are typically given with chemotherapy."
There are several new chemotherapy agents in the pipeline in both academic settings and at pharmaceutical companies, Duff says.
"Some things are getting closer to prime time, but nothing is quite ready for prime time," she said.
Patrick Swayze Dies of Pancreatic Cancer
Star Had Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, Served as Cancer Research Advocate
Patrick Swayze: Cancer Pioneer
Part of Swayze’s lasting legacy may be his role in casting attention to experimental treatments for pancreatic cancer.
"It absolutely raises the profile of the disease to have someone well known and well-loved like Patrick Swayze have this be a public diagnosis," Michelle Duff, director of research and scientific affairs at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN) in El Segundo, Calif., told WebMD previously. "Having his name in People magazine and other celebrity magazines certainly raises awareness for pancreatic cancer."
In fact, there was a pronounced spike in calls to PANCAN’s patient liaison program after Swayze's diagnosis became public, Duff said. The patient liaison program is a call-in program for patients and families that provides free information about the cancer.
Singh said there are some promising treatments in various stages of clinical trials. Researchers are also looking for genetic markers for early detection. In the future, blood tests may tell if someone tests positive for certain genes that portend risk of pancreatic cancer.
“No single therapy is absolute at the present time," Singh said. "It's analogous to multiple freeways. If you block off the main freeway, the cancer will find an alternative freeway and if you block off the alternative freeway, the cancer will find a surface route,” he says.
Put another way: "We can knock out several genes, but cancer cells are so smart that they will find a way of bypassing that route,” Singh said.
For these reasons, Singh predicts that various therapies that attack several routes will be the way to treat any cancer, including pancreatic cancer.
"Treatment vaccines look fairly promising for a good number of patients who have had the pancreatic tumor removed and then get a vaccine to prevent the disease from coming back," Duff says. "These vaccines basically stimulate the body's own immune system to fight the cancer and are typically given with chemotherapy."
There are several new chemotherapy agents in the pipeline in both academic settings and at pharmaceutical companies, Duff says.
"Some things are getting closer to prime time, but nothing is quite ready for prime time," she said.
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