Who seeks finds. And if luck gives fate a boost, so much the better. It is even often the combination of the two that leads scientists to great discoveries. The team from the Inserm Cancer Research Center in Toulouse was able to see this. Presented this week at the World Congress of Oncology (Toulouse Onco Week), their work opens up a promising avenue in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
It all starts with an enzyme: cytidine deaminase (CDA). Already known to specialists, this modified protein makes cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy. “It was believed that removing the CDA only helped the chemotherapy. But, what was totally unexpected, is that by eliminating the CDA, we block the progression of the tumour”, indicates the researcher Pierre Cordelier to AFP. Even before resorting to chemotherapy.
This discovery is all the more important as it opens up treatment prospects for a particularly formidable cancer. Of the 13,000 people affected each year, 12,000 die, recalls the daily 20 minutes. At five years, the survival rate is less than 10%.
Today ranked fourth in the causes of death by cancer (after lung, colon and breast), that of the pancreas could, according to experts, climb to second position.
For his part, Pierre Cordelier estimates that this discovery could lead to a treatment within five to ten years.
