Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and has so far shown only limited response to available treatments. In approximately 90% of cases, these tumors carry mutations in the KRAS gene that drive cancer growth. Due to the aging population and the lack of effective therapies, physicians, clinicians and researchers expect pancreatic carcinoma to become one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide in the coming years.

With the discovery of this newly identified vulnerability, a therapeutically promising approach has now been identified for treating this disease following future clinical trials.

How the weakness works

The researchers discovered that KRAS-mutated tumor cells continuously activate signals from the innate immune system. This primes the cancer cells for an inflammatory form of cell death known as necroptosis. In order to survive, tumor cells rely heavily on the protein caspase-8, which usually inhibits necroptosis. If caspase-8 is blocked, the tumor cells die.