L’ESSENTIEL
- A study conducted in mice suggests it may be possible to eliminate precancerous lesions in the pancreas before they develop into tumors.
- This strategy relies on inhibiting the KRAS gene, which is involved in the majority of pancreatic cancers.
- Clinical trials could soon test this approach in high-risk patients.
Detecting and neutralizing cancer even before it becomes a tumor once seemed theoretical. However, fresh research conducted on mice demonstrates the potential to eliminate precancerous cells in the pancreas before they transform into cancer. Published in the journal Science, the work, led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Abramson Cancer Center of Penn Medicine, paves the way for an innovative strategy called “cancer interception.”
Experimental Treatment Targets Precancerous Lesions
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most challenging cancers to treat, with limited therapeutic options and no effective screening strategies. This research highlights the importance of intervening as early as possible in the disease process. Unlike traditional prevention – such as HPV vaccination or smoking cessation – cancer interception focuses on targeting the earliest stages of a cell’s transformation toward malignancy. The idea is to treat abnormalities before they become uncontrollable. “If we can identify and neutralize these abnormalities at their earliest stages, it would be a game-changer,” explains Robert Vonderheide, director of the Abramson Cancer Center and co-author of the study, in a release. “I am convinced that cancer interception will be the next frontier of cancer therapies.”
The majority of pancreatic cancers originate from tiny lesions called PanINs, which are invisible with standard medical imaging. These abnormalities almost always carry mutations in the KRAS gene, implicated in more than 90% of pancreatic cancers. To test their hypothesis, the researchers utilized two experimental KRAS inhibitors. Administered to mice with precancerous lesions but without established tumors, these treatments rapidly reduced the number of lesions.
Toward Human Trials
After just ten days, a decrease in lesions was already observed, becoming even more pronounced after 28 days of treatment. Tumors took longer to appear and the survival of the mice increased. The scientists also found that mice treated before tumor development lived nearly twice as long as those treated after cancer had developed. “This study shows that medical interception of cancer works better than treatment after diagnosis,” states Minh Than, co-author of the work. For Ben Stanger, director of the Penn Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, this finding “places PanIN lesions as potential targets for cancer interception.”
The next step will be to test this method in high-risk patients, including those carrying genetic mutations such as BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2, or those with hereditary pancreatitis. If these results are confirmed in humans, this strategy could transform the fight against pancreatic cancer by intervening well before the disease manifests. Pancreatic cancer, while relatively rare, accounts for 1.8% of all cancers in France. In 2023, more than 16,000 new cases were diagnosed.
