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Arizona Agencies Picked For International Pancreas Cancer Research Dream Team

By Andrew Bernier
Published: Thursday, November 12, 2015 - 11:29am
Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2015 - 3:06pm
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(Photo by Andrew Bernier - KJZZ)
Chairs lined up in the clinic at HonorHealth to help administer out-patient drug treatments.
Andrew Bernier/KJZZ
HonorHealth’s Erkut Borazanci, the team’s principal clinical investigator, reviews patient's data.
(Photo by Andrew Bernier - KJZZ)
Various samples from patients taken to measure treatment progress.
(Photo by Andrew Bernier - KJZZ)
The room next to this one was occupied. Patients often just starting treatments spend several days in the clinic and call these rooms home.

When you hear the phrase "dream team," many may think of sports superstars coming together to take on the world. But a different kind of team has been assembled across international lines, not to sink last second three-pointers, but sink one of the deadliest diseases: pancreas cancer.

“It’s estimated by next year, pancreas cancer will become the second leading cause of death from cancer in the United States," said That’s Daniel Von Hoff of Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN).

Daniel Von Hoff is the lead of the dream team awarded the $12 million grant from Stand Up To Cancer, a highly selective research foundation. While research funding typically pits scientists and institutions against one another, Von Hoff explains how the dream team format is different.

“Very unique model. The idea was to get people that are usually competitors in the area competing for the same grants to kind of interview each other, assemble a team, work together, and when these teams were assembled, then have those teams compete," said Daniel Von Hoff. "You generate a lot of new ideas against the disease.”

Von Hoff believes his team was selected because funding for other forms of cancer, such as breast and prostate, has accelerated their treatment research. The team wants to take a new approach by focusing on patterns in patients and the molecular programming in the tumor cells that spreads pancreas cancer, soon to be second only to lung for cancer related deaths.

“People would usually lose weight, they develop fluid in the abdomen. It always goes to the liver so it has a pattern of how it progresses," Daniel Von Hoff said. "Almost 100 percent of the patients have a gene abnormality, so maybe the clue here is cancer is like a wound. Soon as you cut yourself it starts healing. But this cancer, it keeps going.”

Von Hoff said this is his second pancreatic cancer dream team. While initial research is done at TGEN in Phoenix, HonorHealth in Scottsdale is one of three locations where the clinical studies are taking place. The others are in Pennsylvania and in London. But the grant requires researchers to work quickly, just like cancer does. Clinical testing from this grant must start in six months, while the original grant testing is well underway.

Even though pancreas cancer is often lethal, HonorHealth’s Erkut Borazanci, the team’s principal clinical investigator, said initial testing is promising.

“We reported that in the first ten individuals with stage four pancreatic cancer, eight of the first ten had at least a decrease of 30 percent or more of their tumor," Borazanci said. "Furthermore, two of those individuals had complete disappearance of their cancer.”

Borazanci said while 10 individuals makes for a small clinical trial, it increases focus on patient’s responses to the therapy.

“We don’t want to waste an individual’s time. We want to give them the best shot. And then if something works, that means that we want to continue that," said Borazanci. "If it doesn’t appear to be as effective, then we need to change gears. So, any person going through a clinical trial today, they’re being re-evaluated by an individual basis."

Right now, the one-year survival rate is 35 perecnt. Borazanci said the goal is to double that. But while the treatment has been effective, he said it can also take a tremendous toll on a patient’s body.

“There really is no truly harmless therapy out there," said Borazanci. "So let’s say an individual has a complete response, well, that therapy may have caused nerve damage, problems with their digestive system. While it’s great that the therapy may have caused them to have that great of a response, it’s very difficult for an individual to be on these therapies."

Gayle Jameson is a nurse practitioner with the research. She often sees patients who’ve tried all other treatment options before choosing this clinical trial. While they will help these patients, they want to see more patients with an early diagnosis prior to any treatment.

“Many folks who look at clinical trials have possibly exhausted standard types of treatments. We prefer to see patients at time of diagnosis so we can evaluate and see if they may be eligible for one of our clinical trials upfront rather than after they’ve had multiple lines of therapy," said Jameson.

Jameson said one of the most difficult parts of clinical trials is getting patients involved. Some get doctor referrals, but many are self-referred and were searching for other options.

“Patients may not be referred from their primary physician. So we’re looking at how can we increase awareness of the potential benefits of clinical trials that not only help the individual but help us move the science forward," she said.

This is a three-year grant, but more than 20 scientists from 10 institutions on two different continents are working together to encourage the hopes and dreams of cancer patients for many more years to come.


EDITOR'S NOTE: This headline has been updated to correctly identify the type of cancer research.

Updated at 12:46 p.m.

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