Pancreatic cancer tissue banks: where are we heading? Aug 2016

		Plain English summary of research In this editorial, Vickna highlights some of the obstacles that hinder pancreatic cancer research and identifies a range of ways that the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank aims to overcome these issues.

The Pancreatic Expression Database: 2018 update. Oct 2017

		Plain English summary of research The Pancreatic Expression Database (PED) , which was initiated a decade ago, is a major resource for mining pancreatic –omics data. In this article, Jacek presents the recent updates to PED and describes its evolution into a comprehensive resource for extracting, analysing and integrating publicly available multi-omics datasets. These updates to PED are in preparation for its integration with the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank (PCRFTB), to promote cutting-edge research.

Urine metallomics signature as an indicator of pancreatic cancer. Mar 2020

		Plain English summary of research Analysis of urine metallomics is a sensitive non-invasive approach to trace changes in biochemical reactions due to cancer development. Professor Crnogorac-Jurcevic’s team demonstrate here that the concentration of essential metals (Ca, Mg, Zn and Cu) and the natural stable Zn isotope composition in urine, discriminate patients with PDAC from healthy controls. This highlights for the first time that metallomics is a promising approach for discovering biomarkers for the detection of PDAC in patients, using urine samples.

Development of a simple, sensitive and selective colorimetric aptasensor for the detection of cancer-derived exosomes. Aug 2020

		Plain English summary of research Detecting cancerous exosomes in patient blood samples could facilitate non-invasive cancer diagnosis. In this study, Professor Al-Jamal’s team successfully developed a sensitive and selective colorimetric aptasensor for detecting cancer-derived exosomes. This holds great potential for future development of point-of-care detection kits for cancer diagnosis in a clinical setting.
		A word from the researcher Researchers involved in this project are very appreciative to patients who donated these samples. This has enabled us to test, validate and improve on the performance on the detection system we developed. We are currently working to further improve on the performance of the detection system which will eventually materialise into a point of care device capable of early detection of pancreatic cancer making it easier to fight it.

Phase I clinical trial repurposing all-trans retinoic acid as a stromal targeting agent for pancreatic cancer. Sep 2020

		Plain English summary of research Pre-clinical models have previously shown that targeting pancreatic stellate cells with all-trans-retinoic-acid (ATRA) reprograms pancreatic stroma to suppress PDAC growth. In this phase Ib trial for patients with advanced, unresectable PDAC, ATRA is re-purposed as a stromal-targeting agent in combination with one of the widely used standard-of-care chemotherapy. Professor Kocher’s team demonstrates that ATRA is a stromal targeting agent by conducting pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies to discover specific biomarkers while determining recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D). This combination will be evaluated in a phase II randomized controlled trial for locally advanced PDAC.

A combination of urinary biomarker panel and PancRISK score for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer: A case–control study. Dec 2020

		Plain English summary of research Professor Crnogorac-Jurcevic’s team previously described a promising biomarker panel (LYVE1, REG1A, and TFF1) for earlier detection of PDAC in urine. Silvana Debernardi worked on the successful validation of their urinary biomarker panel, which was improved by substituting REG1A with REG1B. They have established a clinically applicable risk stratification tool (the PancRISK score) with a binary output for risk of developing PDAC (‘elevated’ or ‘normal’). PancRISK provides a step towards precision surveillance for PDAC patients, which will be tested in a prospective clinical study, UroPanc.

CEACAM7 Is an Effective Target for CAR T-cell Therapy of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Dec 2020

		Plain English summary of research Prof Marshall’s team identified CEACAM7 (CGM2), a family of proteins with expression restricted to the colon and pancreas, as a potential immune cell therapy called CAR (chimeric antigenic receptor) T-cell target for PDAC. They generated CAR-targeting CEACAM7, and assessed antitumor efficacy of CEACAM7 CAR T cells using in vitro and in vivo models. Their research describes the development of CEACAM7- targeted CAR T cells with efficacy against PDAC.
		A word from the researcher The use of the cells from the PCRFTB were essential for the success of the paper. We wanted to prove that cells taken recently from cancers and thus retaining many more of the characteristics of fresh tumours than do established cell lines used for decades, were also killed by our therapy. The cells of the PCRFTB allowed us to do that. The paper resulted in several companies expressing interest in developing our observations for treatment of pancreatic cancer. None have begun but we remain hopeful.

Validation of a Novel, Flash-Freezing Method: Aluminum Platform. Dec 2020

		Plain English summary of research Frozen tissue samples are a valuable biological resource, and like all stored biological materials, should have minimal pre-analytical variations. This is to ensure researchers receive high-quality samples that will give reliable and reproducible results. The methods of storage should be easy to implement, with minimal cost and health hazard. Here, Ahmet compares different methods, such as liquid nitrogen (LN) or dry ice (DI), to a cheap and safe alternative using an aluminum platform (AP). We see here that the aluminum platform is a cheap, yet reliable method to freeze samples, rapidly preserving histological, antigenic, and DNA/RNA quality.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for the non-invasive detection of pancreatic cancer from urine. Jan 2021

		Plain English summary of research Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which emanate from biological waste, can be used as biomarkers for disease. In this study, two VOC analysis platforms were used to test urinary samples from patients with PDAC, chronic pancreatitis (CP) and healthy controls. Results indicate that both platforms were able to discriminate PDAC from healthy controls with high confidence, although they struggled to separate PDAC from CP. This indicates that both PDAC and CP produce similar biomarkers in urine. Consequently however, both platforms validate this approach in identifying subjects for further investigation in a clinical setting.

Pentraxin 3 is a stromally-derived biomarker for detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Jun 2021

		Plain English summary of research Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has no reliable diagnostic biomarkers for timely detection. A multi-centre cohort of PDAC patients and controls donated serum. This study shows that serum PTX3 has a higher sensitivity and specificity, positive predictive value and likelihood ratio, and is superior when compared to serum CA19-9 and CEA for detection of PDAC. Here, Michelle explains that PTX3 is a putative stromally-derived biomarker for PDAC which warrants further testing in larger cohorts and within clinical trials targeting stroma.

Pancreatic Cancer Chemotherapy Is Potentiated by Induction of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Mice. Jul 2021

		Plain English summary of research The presence of immune clusters known as tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs), may confer survival benefit to patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), although their precise role in PDAC has not been elucidated. In this study, Francesca investigates the structure and role of TLSs in human and murine pancreatic cancer, and shows supportive evidence that TLS induction may increase the antitumor activity of chemotherapy in a murine model of PDAC.

Longitudinal profiling of circulating tumour DNA for tracking tumour dynamics in pancreatic cancer. Apr 2022

		Plain English summary of research In this study, Lavanya demonstrated that exome sequencing of serial patient plasma samples could be used to characterise patient-specific ctDNA profiles and showed the sensitivity of ctDNA in monitoring disease burden in PDAC. The future application of this could be to monitor treatment response, with the potential of using precision medicine to guide stratified care for patients, through identifying actionable opportunities for intervention.
		A word from the researcher We are incredibly grateful to the patients and families who agreed to donate samples to the tissue bank. This study was only possible through their generosity, support and determination to accelerate translational research that could help benefit many patients in the future. As liquid biopsies enter a new frontier in genomic medicine, the work of tissue banks like PCRFTB is more important now than ever and shines a light on the donors who provide an invaluable resource to maximise research potential today and for generations to come.