Small-scale particles showing large-scale impact in pancreatic cancer

Izzadeen, Arza and Dymock, Lewis and Hoskins, Clare (2023) Small-scale particles showing large-scale impact in pancreatic cancer. Nanomedicine, 18 (25). pp. 1795-1797. ISSN 1743-5889 (https://doi.org/10.2217/nnm-2023-0283)

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Abstract

Despite significant advances in recent years, cancer continues to be a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting or approximately 10 million deaths in 2020. One particularly burdensome cancer is that of the pancreas, which can be further categorized into pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, contributing to approximately 90% of pancreatic cancer cases, and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. Often, symptoms of pancreatic are misconstrued as symptoms of other gastric diseases, and in some cases, patients remain asymptomatic until a diagnosis is too late. With delayed diagnosis, often at stage III or IV, and poor prognostic outcomes, only 20% of patients qualify for surgical resection and , even the, are only estimated to have a 5 year survival rate of 27% - comparably greater than the 5% without surgery. Despite less than desirable outcomes, surgery remains the only curative treatment option, alongside postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy to prevent recurrence. Although the use of gemcitabine plus capecitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy has been recognized for the management of resectable pancreatic cancer, there remains a need for novel, more target=specific therapeutic options to provide necessary improvements in overall survival. Indiscriminate targeting by traditional chemotherapeutics presents the challenge of affecting non-cancerous cells, resulting in unpleasant side effects and reduced efficacy.

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