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Patients with pancreatic cancer who took the benzodiazepine lorazepam (Ativan), commonly prescribed to treat anxiety during cancer treatment, had a shorter progression-free survival than patients who did not, according to results published. In contrast, patients who took the benzodiazepine alprazolam (Xanax) had a significantly longer progression-free survival than patients who did not. The researchers examined the relationship between benzodiazepine use and survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. When adjusted, any benzodiazepine use was associated with a 30% lower risk of pancreatic cancer-related death. However, when Feigin and colleagues studied the relationship between individual benzodiazepines and pancreatic cancer outcomes, they found...

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat, being highly resistant to chemotherapy. However, there are no effective alternative therapies to chemotherapy, so chemo remains the best available treatment. Researchers report that a hyperglycemic state—that is, one where the blood glucose level is raised—made pancreatic cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy in a mouse model. (Pancreatic cancer is more formally known as Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and shortened as PDAC). Results were replicated in cell culture and a cohort of patients with metastatic PDAC. These findings present a potentially new method of making chemotherapy more effective against pancreatic cancer,...

Animal cells share some qualities with plant cells, but one key feature ours lack is a rigid cell wall. While this provides structure for plants, it’s also something scientists are increasingly looking at for use in new materials, cellulose technology and, now, insulin delivery. Led by Henry Daniell from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine, researchers have created a promising plant-based insulin, containing the three peptides that occur naturally in insulin, which can also be ingested orally. Just as important as the genetic material on the inside, the plant cell walls are key to the drug's efficacy. Their...

Mouse pancreas cells with high levels of the protein SRSF1; CSHL Professor Adrian Krainer found that mice with high levels of SRFS1 tend to exhibit intraepithelial neoplasia—a known precursor to the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Credit: Krainer lab/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory found that the protein SRSF1, which regulates RNA splicing, plays a critical role in the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a deadly form of pancreatic cancer. Elevated levels of SRSF1 lead to inflammation and stimulate tumor growth, while restoring normal levels halts the disease’s progress. This discovery could pave...

Credit: Fussenegger Lab / ETH Zurich / Annelisa Leinbach Swiss researchers have developed a sugar-powered implant that automatically produces insulin when blood glucose levels are high — potentially giving people with diabetes an easier, less-painful way to manage their condition. Diabetes management: For people with type 1 diabetes (T1D), the body doesn’t produce enough (or any) insulin, a hormone that converts blood sugar into energy. To prevent their blood glucose levels from being dangerously high, they need regular injections of synthetic insulin. People who manage their diabetes manually must give themselves these painful injections multiple times a day. Those who...

a rendering of pancreatic cancer cells Credit: LASZLO / Adobe Stock A discovery about how pancreatic cancer spreads could lead to better therapies for the hard-to-treat disease, which kills more than 50,000 people in the US every year. Researchers are already testing an existing drug, used for organ transplants, to stop the cancer’s spread. The challenge: Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, accounting for just 3% of cancers diagnosed in the US, but it’s notoriously hard to beat — 88% of patients die within five years of finding out that they have the disease. A major reason for the low survival...

Consuming a diet rich in vitamin A or its analogs may help prevent children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) reduce their risk of developing painful pancreas inflammation during chemotherapy treatment. For people with ALL, treatment with the enzyme asparaginase helps starve cancer cells by reducing the amount of asparagine circulating in the blood, which the cancer cells need but cannot make themselves. The medication, often used in combination with other chemotherapies, is given via injection into a vein, muscle, or under the skin. However, an estimated 2% to 10% of asparaginase users develop inflammation of the pancreas...

...Prostate Cancer Illustration Researchers have found that a single enzyme called PI5P4Kα can be targeted to kill prostate cancer. The discovery is the first of its kind and could help tackle treatment resistance in prostate cancer. Additionally, it could lead to better treatment options for other types of cancer, including those affecting the breast, skin, and pancreas. By inhibiting one enzyme, scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys can kill prostate cancer cells when other treatments can’t. For the first time, researchers have discovered that prostate cancer can be killed by targeting a single enzyme, called PI5P4Kα. The findings, published recently in...

A study shows that verapamil, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart conditions, can have a beneficial effect on the pancreas in children with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D). Results of the CLVer clinical trial showed that oral verapamil taken once a day improved the pancreas' insulin secretion by 30% over the first year following diagnosis of T1D when compared with a control group that received a placebo. "The beneficial effect of verapamil observed in the trial is extremely exciting," said Antoinette Moran, MD. "Although we don't know whether the beneficial effect of verapamil on insulin...

For the first time, humans with type 1 diabetes, or T1D, have received two treatments called GABA and GAD that have shown promise in animal studies and in isolated human pancreas islets. This clinical trial focused exclusively on children with recent onset T1D. Strategies to ameliorate or cure T1D target the preservation of insulin-secreting beta cells and/or attenuation of the relative excess of alpha cell glucagon. Most importantly, concerning the inhibition of alpha cell glucagon in this trial by GABA/GAD, recent studies in animals made diabetic have shown that inhibition of glucagon leads to expansion of insulin-secreting beta cells and...

Artificial Pancreas Successfully Trialed for Use by Type 2 Diabetes Patients Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully trialed an artificial pancreas for use by patients living with type 2 diabetes. The device – powered by an algorithm developed at the University of Cambridge – doubled the amount of time patients were in the target range for glucose compared to standard treatment and halved the time spent experiencing high glucose levels. Around 415 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with type 2 diabetes, which costs around $760 billion in annual global health expenditure. According to Diabetes UK,...

Pancreatic cancer is a silent disease. For many people, it has no symptoms until it is fairly advanced. Weight loss and increased blood glucose levels are known signs, but it has been unknown—until now—when these changes occur and to what extent. If we can better understand how and when these changes happen before pancreatic cancer diagnosis, we can use this knowledge to diagnose the disease earlier. Researchers investigated known signs of pancreatic cancer—weight loss, high blood sugar and diabetes—and looked at when they develop in relation to cancer. We found that dramatic weight loss in people with pancreatic cancer started...

Pancreatic cancer tumors are being missed on CT and MRI scans, narrowing the window for life-saving curative surgery. The study analyzed post-imaging pancreatic cancer (PIPC) cases, where a patient undergoes imaging that fails to diagnose pancreatic cancer but is then later diagnosed with the disease. Results revealed over a third (36%) of PIPC cases were potentially avoidable, demonstrating a poor detection rate for a cancer that has alarming patient outcomes. UK researchers studied the records of 600 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between 2016 and 2021. Of those, 46 (7.7%) patients failed to have their cancer diagnosed through their first...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common and most lethal form of pancreatic cancer. A unique feature of PDAC is fibrous connective tissue within the tumor. The main component of the matrix is type I collagen or Col 1. In a new study, Hua Su, Ph.D. and Fei Yang, Ph.D. report that Col 1 that has been cleaved by matrix metalloproteases (enzymes that break down matrix proteins, such as collagen) stimulates tumor growth while intact and non-cleaved Col 1 inhibits tumor growth. "Moreover," said Su, "cleaved Col 1 activates a signaling pathway that stimulates energy production in pancreatic cancer...

Those who are habitually inclined to consume burgers, fries and soda may think twice about their dietary choices following scientists' latest findings about high-fat, high-fructose diets. A team discovered that a high-fat diet can increase fructose metabolism in the small intestine, leading to release of a fructose-specific metabolite called glycerate into circulation. Circulating glycerate can subsequently cause damage of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, increasing the risk of glucose tolerance disorders, such as Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Past research has shown that fructose produces deleterious effects in the liver. However, additional research has shown that these effects are normally...

The earlier cancer is detected, the better the chance of successful treatment. Pancreatic cancer, for example, is one of the deadliest cancers. Physicians rarely find the tumor before it causes symptoms, and by then, it has spread to other tissues. For the few patients diagnosed before the cancer spreads, the 5-year survival rate is almost 60%; otherwise, the survival rate is less than 5%. “Pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year relative survival rate of all major cancer killers and is the only one for which both the incidence and death rates are increasing,” explained Dr. Andrew Lowy, clinical director for...

An international study of more than 50,000 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has revealed that IBS symptoms may be caused by the same biological processes as conditions such as anxiety. The research highlights the close relationship between brain and gut health and paves the way for development of new treatments. IBS is a common condition world-wide, affecting around 1 in 10 people and causing a wide range of symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, and bowel dysfunction that can significantly affect people’s lives. Diagnosis is usually made after considering other possible conditions (such as Crohn’s disease or bowel cancer), with...

Diabetics are at heightened risk for COVID-19 complications, it's known. But the connection might run in two directions: COVID-19 may itself kick off or exacerbate diabetes. A new study shows that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, selectively attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the critical hormone that regulates our circulating blood-sugar levels. The loss of these pancreatic cells, known as beta cells, is the defining feature of type 1 diabetes, understood to be triggered when the body's immune system, for unknown reasons, launches an unprovoked attack on those cells.

Yellow staining shows CD*+T cells poised to target preproinsulin. The white outline on the right shows the perimeter of an insulin-containing islet in a patient with type 1 diabetes. The image shows that the preproinsulin-specific T cells can wait very close islets, probably poised to destroy the beta cells inside. Credit: Von Herrath Laboratory, La Jolla Institute for Immunology ============================================================================= Your pancreas is studded with cell clusters called islets. In most people, special beta cells live snug in the islets, happily making the insulin that the body uses to regulate blood sugar. But in people with type 1 diabetes, the...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg undergoes more cancer treatment HEADLINE ONLY!