Discoveries
Dana-Farber scientists create long-awaited mouse model for attacking hard-to-treat pancreatic cancer
Dana-Farber's Ronald DePinho, MD, and his colleagues have engineered a strain of mice that develop pancreatic cancer by the same series of genetic missteps as humans do. The advance will enable investigators to understand more fully how this challenging disease develops and, potentially, identify substances that serve as early signs of its presence.
Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD, and Ronald DePinho, MD
"This animal model shows great promise as a platform for rapid and efficient testing of novel therapeutic agents and for the discovery of tumor stage-specific markers," says DePinho, senior author of the study reporting the breakthrough. "Both are critical, unmet needs for the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States."
Because the basic mechanisms of pancreatic cancer are so poorly understood, scientists had been trying for more than 15 years to create mouse models that mimic the human disease. The Dana-Farber team, headed by graduate student Andrew Aguirre and Nabeel Bardeesy, PhD, used sophisticated bioengineering methods to control two "signature mutations" in pancreatic cells. Both are needed to convert normal pancreas cells into cancerous ones.
The advance is a critical step in the fight against a form of cancer for which few effective treatments currently exist. Pancreatic cancer eventually kills nearly all of the 31,000 people diagnosed with it each year in the United States.
