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Reshaping the future of pancreatic cancer

A new era of personalised medicine for this deadly disease.

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Help Triple survival rates for pancreatic cancer

Tackling the ‘silent disease’

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal cancers, with a five year survival rate of just 12%. It is often difficult to detect early, with few effective treatment options. With your help, Group Leader Dr Sean Porazinski aims to change that. He is leading Garvan’s ground breaking project to take a new targeted treatment to trial within three years. Dr Porazinski is investigating an already clinically-proven drug called a PORCN (pronounced “porcupine”) inhibitor – and it already shows great promise in treating pancreatic cancer patients where a specific cancer-driving pathway is activated. He is also testing whether this treatment can ‘turn on’ a patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer.

pancreas

 

"We see a future where we will be able to understand a patient’s molecular fingerprint in high resolution, and they can be triaged off to the right treatment strategy – getting the right treatments to the right patients at the right time.”

– Dr Sean Porazinski

 

“We see a future where we will be able to understand a patient’s molecular fingerprint in high resolution, and they can be triaged off to the right treatment strategy – getting the right treatments to the right patients at the right time.” – Dr Sean Porazinski

 

Pushing the boundaries of medical research

Pancreatic cancer treatments have hardly advanced in four decades – until now. With your support, we aim to Triple pancreatic cancer survival rates to 30% by 2030. Dr Porazinski and his team are harnessing Garvan’s extensive resources and infrastructure, including cutting-edge biosensor-based imaging that allows them to visualise and measure the effects of the drug in real time.

Your donation enables cutting edge research to drive medical breakthroughs and helps create a healthier future for us all.

Opening up new frontiers

The study uses key researcher Associate Professor Marina Pajic’s KPC-FUCCI biosensor model coupled with state-of-the-art microscopes in Garvan’s world-class cancer research centre. This imaging of deep tissues was not possible previously. It allows direct visualisation and understanding of how cancer cells dynamically interact with their microenvironment to adapt and evade destruction, and how these interactions are affected by our new targeted approaches.

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Help reshape the future of pancreatic cancer

The prognosis for pancreatic cancer patients has tragically not changed for 40 years. You can help accelerate this drug treatment to Phase 2 clinical trials – and reshape the future. Your support will also help drive the long-term outcomes of this study, including:

• Improving our understanding of pancreatic tumour biology

• Gathering information to improve the quality of life for patients with pancreatic cancer

• Minimising side effects, complications and the other impacts of ineffective treatment

• Ensuring that appropriate therapy is tailored specifically to the biology of each tumour subtype

 

With your support, our vision is to provide patients with personalised treatments that not only increase survival rates but also improve their quality of life. You can help empower patients with the knowledge that their treatment plan is specifically designed for them, giving them a sense of control and hope for the future.