London - Treatment of the most deadly type of cancer could be revolutionised after scientists achieved ‘exceptional’ results with a platinum-based therapy.
Currently just 1 per cent of all people with pancreatic cancer survive for ten years after diagnosis. Most die within weeks or months because symptoms haven’t shown until the disease is well-advanced.
But researchers say they have now discovered what makes pancreatic cancer ‘tick’ by looking at the DNA of its tumours.
They found these can be classified into four types, and the 15 percent of patients with one of these types could be helped with platinum-based drugs that are already used to treat ovarian and testicular cancer.
Scientists said the results of early trials had been so dramatic that they had never expected to see them ‘in their lifetimes’.
Professor Andrew Biankin, the Cancer Research UK scientist who co-led the international study, added: ‘Two patients treated with platinum therapy had their tumours completely disappear and one is still alive four or five years down the line, which is almost unheard of.’
In both cases, the disease was so advanced they were expected to only live a few months. In the future, patients could be prescribed drugs based on their tumour’s DNA.
Pancreatic cancer affects almost 9,000 Britons a year and survival rates have improved little since the 1970s. Just 3 percent live for five years, compared with 54 percent of all cancer patients.
Famous victims include actor Patrick Swayze, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Daily Mail