Spanish scientists erase pancreatic tumors in mice

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously hard to treat. Most tumors are found late, and available treatments quickly lose their effect as the cancer adapts.

The team, led by Mariano Barbacid of the CNIO’s Experimental Oncology Group, focused on KRAS, a gene altered in about 90% of pancreatic cancers. Drugs that target KRAS were approved only in 2021, but their benefit is limited because tumors often develop resistance within months.

Instead of blocking KRAS at a single point, the CNIO researchers shut down the same cancer pathway at 3 key points at once. In mouse models, this approach caused tumors to disappear completely and permanently, without major side effects.

To achieve this, the scientists combined 3 agents: an experimental KRAS inhibitor called daraxonrasib, the lung cancer drug afatinib, and a protein degrading compound known as SD36. Tested in 3 different mouse models of the most common form of pancreatic cancer, the treatment led to strong and lasting tumor regression and prevented resistance from emerging.

“These studies open a path to designing combined therapies that could improve patient survival,” the authors write, while stressing that the results are still experimental.

Barbacid cautioned that the therapy is not ready for clinical trials, noting that further work is needed before it can be tested in people.

Even so, experts say the study marks a shift after decades of limited progress. While patients should not expect immediate changes in care, the research offers fresh hope that pancreatic cancer may one day become more treatable.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that MIT researchers had synthesised for the first time a complex fungal compound known as verticillin A, discovered more than 50 years ago and long viewed as a potential anti-cancer agent.